Tales of the Abyss: Melodies of Time
by Azer Kriemhild
Summary: They'd been given a second chance, and all they wanted was to live in peace. But the machinations of others will soon draw them and their friends back into the limelight of a world at the precipice of war. LukexTear with some GuyxNatalia.
1. A Day in Belkend

For clarification, Verse 1 and 2 (and a part of 3) are altered/extended versions of events in the game (so expect some spoilers). After these, it goes into original story that starts where the game ends.

First of all, it goes without saying I don't own Tales of the Abyss or any of the characters therein. Second, I realize that there are some powerfully schmaltzy lines that are pretty OOC (one in particular in this verse – you'll know it when you see it), but I've tried to keep them in the characters' thoughts to alleviate some of that.

* * *

Verse 1: A Day in Belkend

So he was going to die after all. It wasn't so long ago that he'd convinced himself he was ready to die. This was different, though – **that** was a choice, that even though he wanted to live, even though she told him she would hate him and never forgive him, he would die if it meant saving her…their…everyone's lives. And there was certainty. This: he didn't know when he would go – if they would find him gone after a quiet night's rest, or if he would disappear in the middle of battle, leaving his friends in danger.

Luke walked around Belkend for a while, sorting out his thoughts. Only like this, only when he was alone, would he let himself think about it. Resolved not to worry his friends, he went to the inn where they were waiting.

"How did it go?" Tear was the first to speak up when he walked in.

"Uh, he said my blood fonons are a little low, but I'll be fine."

"Really? That's great!" Guy chimed in.

"You sure are tough, Luke!" Anise certainly seemed cheerful enough.

"I'm relieved." Natalia said what they were all thinking, save Jade who stood quietly in the background.

"Well, I guess we can relax a little, then. You must be tired. Why don't we spend the rest of the day in Belkend? We can leave for Baticul at first light tomorrow."

"But Colonel, weren't you just saying we should make our report on the miasma as soon as possible?" Anise looked at Jade dubiously.

"Did I? I must be getting forgetful in my old age. Perhaps a good night's rest here at the inn will help."

"I guess we're spending the night, then." Guy said as he walked over towards the clerk.

Everyone else followed suit to book their rooms for the night, but Luke still stood by the door.

"Is something bothering you, Luke?" The voice pulled him back to reality. It was Tear.

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't **look** fine."

"I said I'm fine!" He hadn't meant to snap, but he still wasn't ready to face everyone. "Just… leave me alone, alright?" And with that, he stormed out, leaving everyone else awestruck.

---

"You know, you didn't have to go supply shopping with me." Tear said to a bag-laden Guy.

"That's alright, I'm just glad to be of service. Besides, you looked like you could use the company."

She turned away, blushing, while they continued to walk. "W-what? What makes you say that?"

"You're telling me Luke's little outburst earlier didn't bother you at all? I swear, just when I think he really has changed, he does something like that."

"You don't really think that, do you?" Tear asked inquisitively.

"Of course not." Guy paused, unsure if he should continue. "But I'm more afraid of what the alternative might be."

Tear couldn't respond. For a while, they walked in silence. As they approached the inn, she finally spoke her mind.

"He's obviously not going to talk to me, but you're his best friend…"

"If Luke isn't going to talk to **you**, he's **definitely** not going to talk to me."

Tear looked away again. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're his watcher, after all, aren't you?"

"Oh…right, that."

"What did you think I meant?" Guy couldn't resist asking.

"N-nothing! Let's go inside."

---

"Not that I don't mind helping, Noelle," Natalia questioned while carrying a box of tools over to where Noelle was working on the Albiore, "but wouldn't Guy be better for the job?"

Noelle patted the aircraft like a loving mother. "No, if I gave Guy tools, he'd just start taking her apart piece by piece."

"Why do we have to sit around this crummy town all day?" Anise questioned of Jade.

"If nothing else, we should at least wait for Luke to return."

"Boo, forget Luke!"

"Anise!" Natalia scolded. "Still, the way he acted was most uncouth."

Jade shifted his glasses. "Oh? He has his reasons. Granted, that's no excuse for his behavior."

Anise wormed her way over towards him. "Colonel, you know why Luke ran off like that, don't you?"

"Now now, Anise, I have my theories, but it would hardly be fair to Luke if I told you what **I** thought."

"Jade is right, Anise. I trust Luke. He'll tell us what's wrong when he's ready."

"Quite. Unless, of course, he's somehow killed before then."

"Colonel!"

"Jade! Don't say things like that!"

"My apologies. I was merely stating a possibility."

---

"So," Luke said, parrying Guy's attack, "why'd you want to practice all of a sudden?"

"You looked like you needed to work some things out of your system. Besides, it never hurts to practice against a human opponent."

Luke brought down a particularly hard strike with his sword, which Guy only barely managed to parry, then withdrew for a moment. "I guess I did make a scene back there, didn't I?"

Guy nodded, then charged forward with another attack. "I suppose I shouldn't ask what that was all about, then?"

"No," Luke countered with a flurry of slashes, "I think I've got it under control."

They both stopped attacking for a moment to catch their breaths. "You sure? You still seem a little worried."

"Yeah, I guess I am. But it's nothing for you guys to worry about."

"Is it something big?"

Luke really didn't want to answer. It was best to be vague. "It's a lot of things."

Guy thought about Luke's answer for a moment. "What about Tear?"

"Yeah, her too, I guess." It came out before he could stop himself.

"Well well… I was just asking if you'd considered all **she** has to worry about, but that's good to know."

Guy laughed as Luke charged at him for another round. "S-shut up! It's got to do with everyone else, too."

"So what is it, then? You don't trust us enough to tell us?" Guy knew it was a low blow, but it was for Luke's own good.

"It's not about trust! I… I just don't think it's necessary to burden everyone with my problems."

Guy sheathed his sword. "That's enough for today." He turned and started heading back for the inn. Without looking back, Guy added "But don't think you can just decide for me what's necessary or not."

---

"Tear, you missed dinner." It was Jade. She was a little shocked that **he** was the one to check up on her, but she made no effort to move from her chair.

"I wasn't hungry."

"If you don't keep your strength up, you won't be ready for the coming battles."

"I know."

Jade sighed. It wouldn't do well to leave her like that, and it was at least partly his fault for having them stay in Belkend overnight – though he'd only wanted a chance to talk with Luke in private.

"Whatever it is, I can assure you it's not your fault. It's a personal battle, and he wants to fight it on his own."

"So I should just let him?" Tear sounded even more despondent than before.

"I never said **that**. In fact, if you really care about someone, you'll know when to fight alongside them even if they don't want you there."

"Jade…" She was on the verge of tears.

Jade pushed his glasses up by the bridge. "If you're going to thank me, don't bother. I'm just an old man, rambling on about things that are **none **of his business."

---

The sun was setting in the distance. There was a quiet calm in the air; no wind, not a sound from the streets below, and a certain numbness for having sat there on the roof for so long. For a moment, he wondered if this is what it would feel like, to be dead. Maybe it was because he had come so close, but he wanted to live now even more than ever. Logic and sentiment were tearing away at him from inside. Even though he knew what he had to do - even if it meant the world - he still wanted to stay with everyone.

Tear silently climbed the ladder, stopping the moment she saw him there. Luke was facing the other way, towards the sunset. He let his head fall back to look up at the sky. The fonstone ring seemed to glow around this time of day. Even with everything on his mind, he still knew there was no excuse for the way he acted.

"Tear…"

"I'm surprised you heard me."

Luke sat upright with a start. He hadn't, but he couldn't tell **her **that.

"How did you know where to find me?"

Tear climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and stepped out onto the roof. "I seem to remember you liking places with a nice view."

He smiled. "That doesn't sound like me… but then again, here I am."

Tear took a few tentative steps towards him. "Yeah…"

"Tear, I… I'm sorry about before."

"That's alright."

"It's just that I'd really rather deal with this on my own."

"I understand." She turned away. "But, I'm here for you if you need me." The ladder was right ahead, but she didn't want to leave. Still, she said what she came to say, and he told her exactly what she expected to hear.

"Tear, wait."

"What is it?"

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything."

Luke couldn't look back. He just kept his eyes straight ahead at the horizon. "You… mind staying here for a while?"

Wordlessly, she walked over next to Luke and sat down, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Sitting here alone together, both of us thinking seriously… You know… what this reminds me of?"

"Yeah, when I wanted you to stop lowering the Outer Lands." Luke smiled. "Only, you wanted me to leave. I really was an idiot, huh?"

"Not at all. I never said it, but… I was really grateful that you stayed." Tear stared at her knees.

The setting sun had passed on, and they'd gone well into the night without a word between them. Luke lay back on the hard roof to look up at the stars. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tear shiver. Abruptly, he jumped upright and unbuttoned his coat, draping it over her shoulders. "Here."

Tear breathed a sigh of relief when he continued on towards the edge of the roof to look out in the distance – there was no way she could've looked him in the eye. "Thanks, Luke."

"You know, it's funny, for some reason I just started remembering Tataroo Valley."

"Why's that?"

"I remember… there was something really beautiful there that night."

"Yes… the selenia flowers were in full bloom."

_Those too… _he thought to himself.

Tear got up and stood next to him.

"Luke…"

"Tear, I have another favor to ask."

"S-sure."

"I want you to go home. Go back to Yulia City."

She was shocked. "What? Why?"

"It's not that I… You don't need to see what's coming. You watched over me, just like you promised, and I'm thankful. But I can take care of Van, and I'll free Lorelei. You don't need to be there."

"If you're worried about Van and I, I already told you–"

Luke turned and headed for the ladder. "–Please, just go to Yulia City. Don't be here when I wake up. Please…"

Tear speechlessly watched him as he descended.

---

"Luke, do you know what happened to Tear? She's not in her room." Natalia asked as soon as he came down the stairs. Everyone else had already gathered.

"No, maybe she went on ahead to the Albiore." Luke secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then, we do have pressing matters to attend to, so let's be on our way, shall we?" Jade urged.

They all started heading towards the door. Tear quietly started down the stairs at the same time, Luke's coat draped over her arm.

"Luke, could I talk to you for a minute?" Jade called out just as Luke was almost out the door.

"Sure, what's up?"

Jade waited until the others had left. "If you don't want to tell the others, that's your business. But I think we both know the truth of your diagnosis."

"No one can keep anything from you, huh?"

"Let me warn you: your fonons must be undergoing rapid separation. Don't use your power any more than you absolutely must. Of course, to use the key, to free Lorelei, you'll have to."

Tear clutched the coat to her chest.

"I know."

"Are you still prepared to die?"

"I think so… I mean, I don't want to die, but… if I don't stop Van and release Lorelei, then we're all going to die anyway, right?"

"I suppose. Well, as long as you know." Jade started towards the door.

"Wait, Jade. Do you think…if I do this, I might be forgiven?"

Jade didn't turn around. "Are you still worried about that? I suppose that depends on who you're looking for forgiveness from. Yes, some of the world might. Others will probably never forgive you. But I can only speculate about the world at large. Of course, I could tell you how **I** feel," Jade said as he continued towards the door, "but there's someone hiding in the stairwell who could probably speak better for all of us." The door shut behind him.

Luke didn't want to turn around. "Tear?"

"Is that what you've been hiding this whole time?" Her cover already blown, she came down the rest of the way to confront him.

He still wouldn't turn. "Yeah."

"**That's** why you wanted me to leave? So I wouldn't have to watch you die?" Tear stepped in front of him.

Luke only looked at the floor. "Yeah."

She looked away. "I…don't want you keeping things like this from me anymore. So, now that I know, you have to live. Promise me."

Luke took a step back. "I can't."

Tear struggled valiantly not to cry. "I know. I'm sorry. But don't resign yourself. At least you have to try."

"I'll try. I promise that." Luke sighed, much of his burden lifted, even if against his will. "You couldn't just leave though, could you?" Tear looked up, shocked and… wounded. But if she hadn't looked, she wouldn't have seen his smile. "I guess it's my turn to say 'I'm glad you stayed.'"

"I…" Tear wanted to hug him. As she was on the verge of movement her own words stopped her short. "I'm going to keep my promise, too. And I'll always be by your side, watching you if you need me."

"Thanks. Tear, I…" He wanted to, but not yet. "Thank you."

* * *

Yes, I know someone in the group would've commented on "coatless" Luke, but I figure he's gotta have like twenty of the same coat for all the titles he's collected by then. Also, I'm still debating whether or not the white & yellow part is attached to the black part, or if that's actually a black shirt on underneath: on one hand, it's cut to follow the same lines as the coat, but on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a separation up the middle where the coat buttons up. 


	2. Straying from Chesedonia

Again, I don't own anything in here that's copyrighted by anyone else. That's the way copyrights work. I'm just a sad, marginally disturbed kid trying to wring some extra life out of one of his favorite games. Also, as mentioned at the beginning of Verse 1, expect more schmaltz.

* * *

Verse 2: Straying from Chesedonia

In even such a short amount of time, so much had happened. Largo was the second God-General to die for Van's ideals, and from Natalia's arrow so quickly after she had learned the truth. Van had re-emerged, with Lorelei contained within him. Mohs, who had allowed himself to be perverted into that abomination, had also been slain.

In one respect, things had gone the way Luke had wanted – amidst all the chaos, he hadn't time to worry about his condition. Jade had already told Luke he would play along, and Luke had asked Tear not to tell the others.

_If I tell everyone, they'll treat me differently. And every time they do, I'll be reminded that I'm going to die. _As they all stood in the central plaza in Chesedonia, Luke replayed the memory while the others talked.

"Before any deployment, soldiers are given 24 hours of leave to do as they please." Jade had explained. Perhaps that was why Luke suddenly felt a little nervous. He felt like time was his greatest enemy now, free time most of all.

Most everyone had left already. It was better not to be around them for now – he hadn't told them yet, and if he did start getting down on himself again, it would raise unnecessary questions.

Tear stood near the edge of the plaza. She seemed concerned.

_Probably about Master Van…_ Luke thought. _I should do something nice…_

He walked over to her. "You're not going anywhere?"

"No... Not really... You?"

"Nah, Chesedonia's in a desert, so... And it still doesn't feel real, you know? That tomorrow's the final battle."

"Then would you two join me for a little while?" It was Noelle. He really did want to do something nice for Tear, but since he didn't know **what** just yet, he decided to go along.

"Me, too!" Mieu chimed in.

For a moment, he could've sworn Noelle gave Mieu an angry look, but right away she was smiling again. "Sure. We'll all go together."

---

Now it was Luke's turn to be lost in thought as he watched the scenery pass rapidly beneath them.

_It's hardly original, but maybe jewelry? No, I don't think I've ever seen her wear any aside from her pendant…_

Luke smiled. He remembered buying that pendant back for her, and how embarrassed he'd felt at the time. The expression on her face alone was worth the 100,000 Gald.

"What are **you** smiling about?" Tear asked curiously.

He whipped around in his chair. "Nothing, I…" _She's even wearing it now…_ He couldn't help but grin sheepishly, so he turned back around to the window.

"You're acting very strange today, Luke."

"I've got it!" he exclaimed as he rushed past a confused Tear to rummage through their item bag. He'd found it in his room back in Baticul, and something possessed him to take it. Maybe this was why.

"Luke, what's going on?"

After a little searching, he stood up and started walking back towards her, both his hands behind his back holding something.

Tear instinctively blushed. "W-what is it?"

"Here." Luke held out his hand.

"This is–!"

"Master Van gave that to me when I first started training under him. He said it was an old badge of his marking–"

"–trainees in the Order of Lorelei. This was his?"

"Yeah. I thought you should have it."

Tear held it in her hand, looking it over. _Luke, you idiot…_ She knew he meant well, but there were two things she really didn't want to think about right then and Van was one of them.

Luke sat down on the floor. "I'm sorry."

_Was it that obvious, _Tear thought, _what I was thinking?_

"I don't think I've been very considerate of what you're going through."

"Luke…"

"I doubt I'll ever **really **understand, but if… I don't want to fight Asch, but it's something I have to do, for both of us. But I don't think I could kill him if it came down to it." Luke scratched the back of his head. "I guess what I mean is: maybe we **do **have to fight Master Van, but I'm going to do everything I can to free Lorelei without killing him."

Tear stood up and walked past him to the door exiting the bridge. She placed he hand on the wall next to it for a moment to support herself. "Thank you, Luke, for saying that. But I need to be alone for a while."

"Sure."

With that, Tear left and Luke returned to his seat.

"I really screwed that up, didn't I?" He was sure Noelle and Mieu had heard their entire conversation.

"No, she might be a little upset right now, but I'm sure she's really happy how hard you're trying to help her."

"That's right, Master!"

"Well, I have to do what I can **now**, since I…"

"Since you what?"

"Nothing, it's not important."

---

Tear hadn't gone far – by the time she'd reached the ladder leading up to the deck, she no longer had the strength to climb it, so she propped herself up against the wall and slowly slouched until hitting the ground..

_Luke... I know he means well, but he always manages to make me face parts of myself I don't want to._

She'd thought that she'd realized how she **really **felt about Luke all too late back in the Tower of Rem, and just when she thought she'd been given a second chance, that too was taken from her. Part of her cursed Van for putting her in this position, which only made her feel even worse.

_Maybe I should just talk to him. He earnestly seems to want me to be more open with him. But talking to him now…he'd tell I was worrying about him, and that's exactly what he said he didn't want._

So Tear decided to stay there a little longer, until she calmed down. She wouldn't get the chance though. Luke rounded a corner and started walking towards her moments later.

"Luke! I–" She started to yell, but truth be told she didn't know how she felt about seeing him just then.

It didn't matter – Luke ignored her and continued on until sitting down right next to her. It was just as well; at least she wouldn't have to look him in the eyes.

"I told you I wanted to be alone…"

_That's what you said last time, and look at how you really felt then. _Luke thought. "About the promise you made… I, uh, well…if you want…" _Don't beat around the bush, dreck! _Luke suddenly felt like Asch would be yelling at him if he were listening in. "I promise to be there if you need me, too." Luke felt like he could've passed out, and after saying that he stared straight at the wall ahead.

Meanwhile, despite it going against every soldierly instinct she had, she still only barely managed to **not **fall over and rest her head on his shoulder.

"For as long as I can, anyway." he added.

_Luke…you always say one thing too many._

---

_I wonder why she wanted to meet me up here. And what's taking her so long? _Luke glanced furtively towards the hatch. _She wouldn't…lock me up here because of earlier, would she? _Still no sign of her, he looked back to the ocean. _No. Natalia maybe, but Tear, no. Especially keeping in mind everything that's going to happen. We'll have to kill the remaining God-Generals, and somewhere along the way I'll have to fight Asch too. I can't deny we'll probably have to kill Master Van… and then, to release Lorelei, I'll… And it'll all happen_

"Tomorrow…" A comforting hand fell on his shoulder.

"...Yeah. I hope my body holds together until then."

She sat down next to him. "It will."

"Tear…"

"Tomorrow, and the day after…and on and on…"

He wanted to scold her for trying to comfort him, but he didn't really mind it, coming from her. Looking out towards the horizon, Eldrant hovered in the distance, partially obscuring the moon. That's how it was – even in the middle of the ocean, away from everyone and everything, it still loomed over their heads.

_If I'm going to die tomorrow, I guess this is my last chance._

"Tear…I…"

"What is it?" She sounded genuinely worried about him. Not that he liked putting her in that position, but it was…reassuring.

Luke suddenly felt attacked by guilt. _If I tell her now, it will only make things harder for her later on._ _That is, if she…_ He shook his head to get the thoughts out of his system. "…Ah, never mind."

"You're weird." Inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief. _I really thought for a second there he was going to…_

He looked over at her – if not for her smile, he could've sworn she sounded sad when she said it. Still, there was the matter of **what** she said. "…I am not!" Done defending his pride, he moved on to some of the other things he'd wanted to say. "I just… Thanks.

"What's with you, all of a sudden?"

"You watched me this whole time, just like you promised."

Tear wanted to get up and leave. She still wasn't ready to deal with his dying. But she had to stay there, for his sake. "…You idiot. I'm going to keep on watching you, too."

"You're the idiot. I'm going to disappear…" Luke found himself silenced by her finger on his lips. Despite his shock over the gesture, he knew what it meant. Time for a new topic.

"It's okay."

"It's weird. I'm really happy right now." Luke said, looking up at the stars. "I have friends…and you… I can finally think of myself as…me."

Tear blushed. It was so subtle she almost didn't catch it. _'…friends…and you…' Is that his way of saying I'm more than just a friend to him?_

"This is probably the happiest day of my life."

This statement snapped her from her thoughts. "…What?"

"I mean, I wish I could think it wouldn't be…"

Tear steeled her resolve. She didn't want to stay there…with him…thinking about **that**. But, she told him she would be there when he needed her, and she intended to keep her word.

They didn't stay outside much longer – the atmosphere had gotten too heavy to bear. Luckily, it was Luke who stood first.

"We should probably head back inside soon if we want to get back to Chesedonia by morning." He stretched as though waking from a dream.

"Go on ahead without me; I'll catch up in a minute."

He shrugged and walked back towards the hatch. Tear couldn't help but look at her finger. The finger that, what felt like ages ago, had brushed up against his lips. _Is that as close as I can let myself be to someone? _She felt angry at all her training, at herself, for being so distanced, and made a decision. _If…no, not 'if.' Never 'if.' __**When**__ we all get out of this alive, I'll try to be more open with him._

* * *

Hmm, don't have much to say after this one… Honestly, I didn't even really plan on "re-envisioning" this scene, but an idea popped into my head and I just rolled with it. Not as long as Verse 1, I know, but I kinda liked the way it turned out. I know there's no such badge or anything like it in the game, but I figure Van had to treat Luke nice **sometimes**, if for no other reason than to gain his trust, so why **couldn't **something like that happen? Anyway, just lemme know if I use the same phrases over and over again, as I tend to do that w/o realizing it sometimes. 


	3. The Final Sacrifice

Copyright, blah blah blah, not owned by me, blah blah blah, if only I had a billion dollars, blah blah blah, make them redo the ending, blah blah blah. That out of the way, this one is a big skip-ahead from where I left off – there were a few scenes I did want to touch on in between then and now (and tried to, but the originals were so well done I was afraid I'd just schlock it up). Ne'er the less I made some heavy modifications to one of those scenes, but put it in flashback form so as to lessen the devastation of its alteration. On the bright side: from here on out (with one **notable **exception), I'm no longer beholden to the overarching story. Mazel tov!

* * *

Verse 3: The Final Sacrifice

The God-Generals had laid down their lives. Arietta, Largo, Major Legretta, and Sync all died trying to stop them from reaching Van. Asch had died holding off their pursuers. Van himself had sacrificed his life for his beliefs. And then Luke… Was it necessary that they all died? Truly necessary?

Tear almost laughed. She reminded herself of Luke, back in the beginning of their fateful journey, so unwilling to justify killing others for their own survival. She made a note to remember that – Luke would get a good laugh when she told him someday.

_Someday…_

Everyday, she replayed his parting words to her over and over. Certainly, today would be no exception.

"_Tear, I'm not just going to try. I will come back. I promise."_

"_Luke…"_

"_But promise me something in return."_

"_Anything!"_

"_Promise me…that you won't hate me if I don't."_

Every ounce of her being had wanted to stay with him. If he **was **going to die, she would die with him. But that was the last thing he would've wanted. She knew. Maybe in no certain terms, but he had told her in his own way. She couldn't leave without doing the same.

"_I could __**never **__hate you. Luke…I love you. So please, come home."_

She knew she had to tell him, that it was the right thing to do, but still wished she hadn't. The look in his face afterwards…she knew what it meant. It meant he could die happy.

But she wouldn't lose hope like so many others. She would hold him to his word.

Meanwhile, though officially under orders of the Reformed Order of Lorelei, she had volunteered all of her time and energy into the restoration of the Isle of Feres as a home for the replicas. It wouldn't be nearly enough for all of them, but it was a start at least. And the work kept her in fairly constant contact with everyone save Jade, who returned to military duty, and Mieu, who, with his exile over and…Luke gone, returned to Cheagle Woods. It was Guy in particular though who seemed to always show up and drag her away from her work just when she needed it, and she would need it today.

Everyone around her worked with smiles on their faces, though they tried to hide their happiness when she was around. It's not as though she blamed them for it – after all, it was the second anniversary of the day their world was saved. It just so happened to be the same day hers was lost. She rolled her eyes at her own moroseness. She definitely had to bury herself in work or she'd be thinking like that for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Tear! Wait up!" Guy yelled out from quite a ways away.

She smiled inwardly. _At least my instincts are still sharp._

Tear started walking towards him as he weaved his way through the crowd, and within moments, the two had met up.

"Tear," Guy said breathlessly, "I'm glad I caught you before you went to work."

"What's the rush?"

"Emperor Peony is throwing a big party in Grand Chokmah."

Tear lost whatever traces of a smile she might've had. "I'm in no mood to celebrate."

"Everyone's going to be there. Even Mieu." Guy prodded playfully.

"Not everyone."

What Guy said next, he asked in all seriousness. "Have you given up on him?"

"O-of course not!" Tear looked away, having not intended to sound half as upset as she had.

Having gotten the answer he was looking for, Guy was back to his cheerful self. "Then as long as Luke is somewhere, alive, there's no reason **not **to celebrate today."

Not for lack of understanding, but the logic would not prevail over her mood. "Please, just tell them I'm feeling sick."

"Tear, you have to come – tonight's the night."

She mulled over the words for a moment, confused. Then, as realization dawned, "Tonight?" she almost shouted. Now she **had **to go.

---

They'd been an item long enough. It started out as the same friendship as always, as one tried to help the other through a tragic loss. Then, ignoring Jade's warnings, when the grieving was over, he'd stayed around to help pick up the pieces. From there…well, here they were – eating dinner at a huge party, holding hands underneath the table.

He'd actually thought about her that way in passing even before the incident, and truth be told, despite herself, so had she. She didn't like thinking about the past, but she **was** over it for the most part. On the other hand, **he **needed constant reassuring on her part that he was neither the 'rebound guy' nor taking advantage of her (formerly) distraught state.

Natalia looked down at her plate – they'd spent the whole day traveling, so she was quite famished. Still, she couldn't eat just yet. Leaning over, she whispered, "Could I have my hand back?"

Guy smiled and let go. "Sorry."

Many of Grand Chokmah's citizens had gathered for the event, most of whom ate and danced and otherwise partook of the revelry in the plaza below, while a select few did so from the palace terrace. They, of course, were some of those few.

"Emperor Peony really spared no expense, did he?"

"It certainly doesn't look that way."

"How could I think of the cost on such an auspicious day?"

Guy stood up and bowed as Peony approached. "Glad you could join us, Your Majesty."

"Guy, there's no need to bow before me – you're a noble, not a servant." Emperor Peony smiled.

"Sure, he says that now, but watch who he's going to put in charge of cleaning this up tomorrow." Guy muttered under his smile.

"Guy!" Natalia whispered while trying desperately to suppress her laughter.

"I'd be careful – His Majesty does have an excellent sense of hearing." Jade whispered between them, causing both to jump back in shock.

"Jade, when did you get here?" Guy shook Jade's hand a bit more vigorously than he'd expected, leaving him a little stunned, albeit momentarily.

"The, uh, ship from Keterburg arrived hours ago. I've just had other business to attend to until now."

"How is your fomicry research progressing?" Natalia asked.

"Oh, very well. Very well indeed."

She stood and placed her hand on his shoulder. It was a gesture that felt odd, to say the least, for both of them. "I'm sure she'd be happy to see you putting it to such good use."

"Whatever do you mean?" Jade's sarcastic reply.

"Jade, you didn't happen to pass Tear on your way up, did you?" Guy was worried. It had been a while since she'd gone inside the palace.

"Oh yes. She seemed deeply engrossed in conversation with our emergency rations."

This caused both of them to think, though Natalia was the first to understand. "Jade! Please don't say that about poor Mieu. You're almost as bad as…Luke…"

A somber mood.

"Colonel! As the future Fon Master, I can't have you talking about the Sacred Cheagles like that!" It was Anise to the rescue.

"Anise! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"I question His Majesty's judgement – this is hardly the place for a child."

"Stop calling me a child!"

"Anise, you've got to learn to just let it go."

At this, she turned on Guy. "Guy! Come here and give me a hug!" Without waiting for a response, she ran right into him.

He did take an instinctive step back, but once she'd latched on, he acquiesced and let her get it over with.

"Boo, you're no fun anymore." she pouted.

Guy sat down in his chair, and everyone else soon followed suit. After they'd spent some time eating and catching up, Natalia noticed Guy seemed anxious and impatient.

"Is something wrong?"

The question was all the impetus he'd needed. "I'm going to go find Tear."

"I'm sorry!" Before he got the chance to stand up, Tear came running out onto the terrace, Mieu hanging onto her shoulder for dear life.

"Me too! Me too!" he shouted between bounces.

Aside from Tear's, there were two other empty chairs at the table, neither of which Mieu was allowed to use. The first was reserved for an unnamed guest. The second, next to Tear, would remain empty.

"Father!" Natalia immediately stood up, knocking her chair backwards in the process. "What are you doing…here?"

"A father can't join in a celebration in his own daughter's honor?"

Guy, meanwhile, had sighed, got up and righted her chair before sitting down again.

"Not at all! I was just…surprised to see you is all."

King Ingobert VI took the final seat at the end of the table opposite Emperor Peony.

Emperor Peony raised his glass into the air and the table grew quiet. "I'd like to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedules to come here today and celebrate this wonderful day which marks not only the day you young heroes put an end to Van's machinations, but also the beginning of lasting peace between Malkuth and Kimlasca-Lanvaldear."

At the same time Emperor Peony lowered his glass, King Ingobert VI raised his. "And it is with **great **honor and happiness that on such a day, yet another wonderful thing may happen." And having said that, lowered his glass as well.

For a moment, no one said anything. Jade leaned over and whispered to Guy, "I believe you have the floor."

Guy coughed. "Oh! Right!" He turned his chair to face Natalia, and turned hers so as to take both her hands in his (the grinding noise of the heavy oak chairs against the tile floors making the movement seem to take minutes, while causing those who knew what to expect to roll their eyes).

"Guy, what are you–"

"–Natalia, would you do me the honor of making me the happiest man on Auldrant?"

She looked away. It was not often she was rendered speechless. In an instant she had jumped to her feet and pulled him up with her. She gave him a questioning look, to which he responded with a sigh and a nod, and then hugged him, whispering "yes."

---

Tear made her way up to the terrace after waking up from a comfortable sleep in the palace. "Well, congratulations again, Guy."

Guy dejectedly picked up a piece of leftover trash and stuffed it into an overstuffed bag he dragged along the floor.

"Guy?"

"Oh! Tear, sorry, I didn't hear you."

"So, Emperor Peony actually made you clean up? Why am I not surprised?"

"I had a nightmare last night he interrupted my wedding to have me clean up after his rappigs…"

Tear nodded, easily picturing the scene. "Well, I came up to say congratulations again, and…thanks for making me come out here. I did have a nice time."

"Well thanks, Tear! And I'm glad to hear that." He paused. "You're leaving now?"

Again, she nodded.

"Well, take care of yourself, alright?"

"Thanks. I will. You be careful."

He gave her an inquisitive look.

"Don't…do anything to Emperor Peony you might regret."

Guy laughed. "Don't worry, Tear. I have faith – karma will give him his comeuppance."

---

Had it been that long ago since she'd seen any of them? Or so shortly ago? It had been only a few months, but time seemed to stretch on endlessly…especially as it approached that day now only a few away. Tear leaned forward on the railing and looked over the invitation one final time before casting it into the bay, then boarded the ship to Chesedonia.

Chesedonia… Her memories of the time the two of them spent aboard the Albiore were as vivid as ever – he had finally told her, or indicated fairly clearly at least, how he felt. Thumbing through the book she now read, there was little room for doubt.

At first, it was a bit of a mystery. She'd left the group quickly, and even her own home held too many precious memories, and so seeking escape while still doing **something **constructive, chose the Isle of Feres as her destination. Needless to say, the package took several months to catch up.

She hadn't expected a package, and it's route was certainly noteworthy – to her from her forwarding address left at her old home in Yulia City, and to there from Baticul. But in Baticul, it was not from where but from whom that made Tear take notice: Susanne fon Fabre. Tear almost broke down, instantly recognizing the contents. They were belongings of Luke.

_Why would she send me these? Why send me things that belonged to her own son? Belong! _she cringed. _Belong…_

Amidst a few other items they'd collected along their journey, in the box were two things that answered her question. The first was a simple envelope…of the Order of Lorelei stationery. And sure enough, inside was the letter she'd written Luke what felt like ages ago. He'd kept it in pristine condition. But more than that was what rested at the bottom. Luke's diary.

Tear had read the entire book, cover to cover, though some pages were more difficult than others to get through, in one sitting, foregoing nourishment or sleep until the last page was turned.

She only picked it up once since – the last time she made this trip. It was…emotionally brutal to go there, and terrifyingly lonely, even knowing her friends had thoughtfully hidden themselves and watched from nearby.

Tear looked back towards the harbor as it slowly shrank into the horizon. That invitation meant she would most likely make this trip completely alone.

Even at the time of night that she arrived, Chesedonia was abuzz with activity. Though she certainly preferred nature, ordinarily this wouldn't have been a problem. Now, with everything on her mind she just didn't want to be bothered dealing with anyone. The moment they lowered the gangplank she made her way straight towards the city's exit. To Tear's surprise, someone was already tailing her by the time she left. She wouldn't call him on it though, mostly because he was at least trying to respect her privacy.

More surprising was that the closer she got to Tataroo Valley, the larger her entourage grew. As she sat on a large rock near the field of selenia flowers where they'd met so long ago and began to sing the Grand Fonic Hymn, she could hear them approach one by one.

"You didn't come." Natalia spoke up as Tear's song came to a close. Tear turned to face her. "I believe your presence was requested at Luke's coming-of-age ceremony at the Duke's manor."

Tear looked back towards the flowers. "I'm not interested in some ceremony…in front of Luke's grave."

"That's why the both of you came here, isn't it?" Anise asked.

"He said he'd be back. So let the others sit around and tell stories at his grave, but I won't be joining them!" Guy said, assured his friend would keep his word.

Silently, they all gazed out towards the field, as though awaiting some miracle. After a time, Jade spoke up. "We should be heading back soon. The valley is dangerous at night."

Tear slowly nodded ascent, and the others turned to leave as she slid off the rock. One last time, she let herself look back at the flowers. Amidst them all, some distance away, stood a redheaded figure, making his way towards them.

* * *

Ahem… yeah, so whooooole middle part there? Random thought. Snowballed. Ending? Hand to God, I thought **that** was the point they were going to just cut to a black screen and "DAS ENDE" me (you'd have seen me on the 6 o'clock news if they did). Now I'm doing it to you – I'm a card-carrying hypocrite! Bonus points if you get the "DAS ENDE" reference. Anyway - yes! Guy no gynophobic no mo! Why GuyxNatalia? (1) Politics – c'mon, you know Natalia'd even marry a Malkuth noble she'd never met before just to help keep the peace between them & Kimlasca; (2) Asch – this IS a LukexTear fanfic, so certain spoilerific endings have to be interpreted a certain spoilerific way (and the only **proper **way to interpret it IMHO); (3) Support – as far as I can tell, 4 out of 5 screaming lunatics agree: GuyxNatalia greater than AschxNatalia. 


	4. An Order of Annihilation

Soooo... by law and bylaw I am required to state that the following events are real, only the names, places and what happened have been changed to protect the innocent. Erm, I mean, I don't own the copyrights for any of the characters or Tales of the Abyss itself, I am but a humble writer on a mission. Also, I apologize if the OOC is a bit much in this, but there's assumed character development in the time between Verse 3 and Verse 4 that (hopefully) accounts for this.

* * *

Verse 4: An Order of Annihilation

"Why are…you here?"

He smiled. "This place has a nice view of Hod. Also…I'm keeping my promise. Both of them."

Training be damned, she ran to him and they met in a strong embrace.

After what felt like an eternity, he gently held her shoulders and pushed her back so he could see her face. "Tear, there's something I have to say…what I should've told you back then: I love you too."

Tear pushed through his arms and hugged him again. Through her crying, she managed to whisper "Luke…you idiot."

He smiled as he tightened his arms around her. "I know."

---

"I'll bet I know what you're thinking about." Luke teased as he watched Tear daydreaming.

"Oh? What, then?" she challenged.

"About when I came back."

Tear tried to hide her shock, but the triumphant smile that emerged on Luke's face moments later let her know she'd failed. "Fine. You win." she said with a sigh.

"**What **do I win?" he asked, not a hint of immodesty about his expectations.

"Close your eyes."

Luke immediately obeyed the command, while his thoughts built on the anticipation. Then he felt a hard slap on his face and looked at Tear in bewilderment.

"**That's** for making me feel bad for thinking about such a wonderful moment." Tear got up to start cleaning the counters and allowed herself to reminisce while Luke began a profuse apology.

_It's been…almost another year. Almost three years without enemy attacks, or fending off monsters, or worrying about dying. I can't possibly miss it, can I? What about the good? Sharing personal stories around the campfire, bonding over common fears and anxieties, helping each other through the bad? Everything now just seems so…routine._

Something pulled her from her thoughts. Luke held her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder, gently rocking side to side. She enjoyed the moment – neither of them were particularly comfortable initiating these kinds of gestures, but it was something they agreed to work on together, for each other.

"You're not happy here, are you?"

Luke's sudden clairvoyance caught her off guard. "I, well…" _remember, you promised yourself… _she admonished herself for hesitating. "I'm not."

"Then let's move."

Luke let her go as she tried to turn around. Tear gave him a very worried look. "What about the restoration project?"

"Who am I? The king of replicas?"

Tear looked away. She hadn't meant it like that.

Luke cringed at her reaction. It came out far more accusing than he'd intended. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. All I meant was that they can handle things without me. The only thing I'm worried about is if you're happy."

She held her tongue from insulting him, not that he ever seemed to care, and said plainly "You should worry about yourself, too."

"You worry about me enough for the both of us."

Tear cracked him a bitter smile.

"And I worry about you enough for the both of us. And that," he said, planting a quick kiss, "is why we work."

Tear gave him a genuine smile now. _He's really come a long way since we first met._

"So…where do we move? We could always take Emperor Peony up on his offer."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't want to live someplace that big." There was a knock at the door. "Besides, visiting is one thing, but I don't know if I could actually **live **somewhere that cold." she continued as she made her way to the entrance.

Luke followed behind her. "I don't have a problem with Yulia City if you want to move back there."

No sooner had Tear opened the door than a group of armed soldiers bearing both Kimlascan and Malcuth colors forced their way past her. She instinctively reached for her daggers, but hadn't carried them for some time.

"That's him. That's the replica." one of the soldiers spat.

The last word was filled with such hostility that Luke immediately went for Soul Crush, which hung above the mantle. He went into a battle stance, as did all of the soldiers that surrounded him.

Before Luke could move to attack, however, one of the soldiers made his way through the crowd, one arm wrapped around Tear, the other putting his blade to her throat. "Drop the sword, replica, and I might decide not to kill her."

What Luke said next he said in a tone that Tear herself had never heard him use. It was calm, rational, and frightening. "You won't kill her, because if you so much as pinch her, not a one of you is leaving this room alive."

This seemed to drive home a point with some of them, who stepped back apprehensively. "Forget it! Kill them both!" a voice commanded from the back.

In the span of the momentary distraction caused by the same voice, Luke had focused his energy and released a targeted attack – the soldier and sword both vanished into nothingness at the hand of Luke's second-order hyperresonance.

Tear, freed, took several steps away. "Luke!"

His step faltered for a moment, but he quickly positioned himself between the soldiers and Tear. "Get back! I'll hold them off!"

Tear ran to retrieve her knives, but stopped short. Her Fonic Hymns were still fairly strong, despite the decline of fonic power since stopping the Planet Storm. Though they attacked full-force the moment she began, Luke managed to fend them off until most were asleep and the rest were so affected Luke could easily dispatch them.

"What the…hell was that about?" Luke asked no one in particular as he regained his composure.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time before the militaries got involved."

"What? Do you know what's going on?"

"It hasn't happened in a while so I thought they'd stopped altogether, but there was a lot of sabotaging during the beginning stages of the reconstruction. In spite of everything Jade has done, there are still a lot of people out there who view replicas as…abominations." Tear looked away.

"Relax, Tear," Luke smiled, "it's not like you're one of them."

"O-of course not!"

"Come on, we should go alert the guard."

"We should grab some equipment first – there might be more of them outside."

Luke nodded in agreement and soon they were adorned with their old armaments making their way through the city. For the most part, things seemed calm – since the attackers were wearing military uniforms the citizens and workers probably assumed they were on official business. In any event, after informing the guards of what happened, the two patrolled the city and found no more enemies.

"It's all well and good for now," Tear began, "but if they've infiltrated the military, it's only a matter of time before things escalate further."

"We should probably go see Uncle then."

"Yes. I doubt he's unaware of the situation, but nothing has happened on this scale that I can recall."

Luke sighed. "I guess this means we're postponing our moving plans."

---

"Luke! Tear! Are you alright?" Natalia was there at the port to greet them as they entered Baticul.

"Yes, we're fine. But how did you know what happened?" Tear responded.

"We got word by carrier pigeon a few hours ago." she turned to Luke. "I'm so sorry this happened."

"It's hardly **your **fault." Luke said, scratching the back of his head. "Still, if it's gotten this bad, something needs to be done."

"I agree, and I've already suggested that father, Emperor Peony, and Teodoro meet to discuss possible solutions to this…Original Order."

"Original Order?" Tear asked.

"That's what some of those we've captured locally are calling themselves. It seems they still seek adherence to the score and so are against the recent reforms in the Order of Lorelei."

"And since replicas aren't bound to the score…they have to die." Luke finished.

"That's what they believe, yes."

They made their way up to speak with King Ingobert VI. As they passed the manor, Luke stopped.

"Natalia – has anyone told mother about this?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Good. She worries enough as it is." Still, he hesitated to move forward.

"Luke, why don't you go in and speak with your parents. Natalia and I can update His Majesty."

"Thanks, Tear."

More so even than when his mother had recommended he leave, Luke felt ill-at-ease in his own home. Partly because it no longer was. Partly because since his return there were many in the manor who viewed him as responsible for Asch's death, not that they would ever voice such opinions. Mostly because those reasons made his visits few and far between.

"What happened?" a stern voice questioned the moment he entered. Luke's father eyed him in his battle gear suspiciously.

Luke sighed.

"It goes without saying I'll keep it from your mother."

"We were attacked. A group of people who want to kill all the replicas."

"They attacked you openly? In the street?"

"In our home."

Duke Fabre lowered his head sadly, then looked up. "In your home? They attacked you so directly? I thought there were thousands of replicas already living there."

"You're right, it does seem odd. I guess because of who I am they think I'm some sort of figurehead." Luke rolled his eyes at the thought.

His father seemed to ponder on this for a while. "You're going to bring the fight to them?"

"If it comes to that."

"Well, I'll do my best to keep this from Susanna, but if she does find out, I'll send word to you as I'm sure she'll want to see you right away."

"If I can, I will."

"I know that. You're a good son." Duke Fabre paused. "If it comes to fighting, though I hardly have the right to say this, I want you to be careful. Don't endanger yourself needlessly."

"Father… I won't."

"Now, go and see your mother. It's been far too long since your last visit."

---

"Another summit of powers. It is truly a shame to have such an event occur only under such dire circumstances. Nevertheless, I agree that it is necessary."

"Thank you, father."

"Tear. I shall arrange a transport to Grand Chokmah for you and Luke. I'm sure Emperor Peony will agree to the summit, and perhaps you can enlist young Gailardia and Colonel Curtiss while you are there."

Natalia shifted in her seat, ready to speak up, but her father cut her off.

"Before you even ask, you are free to go with them as well, Natalia. Just be careful."

"Of course, father. Thank you."

"My thanks for your support, Your Majesty."

"Please, Tear. There's no need for such formality." King Ingobert argued. "After all, you **are **family now."

Tear blushed, unsure how to respond. "I…wouldn't feel comfortable speaking so informally, Your Highness."

"Very well." he sighed. "In the meantime, making the arrangements for a ship may take a while, so why don't you head to Duke Fabre's manor. I'm sure he'd welcome you to stay the night."

At first, Tear had been worried about how Duke Fabre would feel about their marriage, but with Guy having already taken Natalia's hand, he was only marginally upset that Luke hadn't at least married a noble Honestly, she was more surprised with how welcoming Susanna was, since Luke had already established that he would no longer live in the manor. If his mother **did **resent her for this, there was never any sign of it at all. Once, Tear had hinted at the idea, and Susanna quickly explained her position on the matter.

_"Of course I was upset at first. I watched him grow for seven years, and then we thought we'd lost both he and…Asch."_

_"It was never my intention that Luke move out to the Isle of Feres with me." Tear interjected, half defensively._

_"I understand that – once he explained everything to me I could see how much he loves you and how happy you make him."_

_Tear looked away, blushing._

_"He would never be that happy staying in the manor, and more than anything else, happiness is what a mother wants for her children."_

She remembered the conversation on her way to the manor. Inside, she was told Luke had already retired to his chambers, so she went back to meet him.

Walking inside, she found him sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. He seemed…unwell. As soon as he heard her come in, though, he looked up with a smile.

"How did it go?"

"His Majesty has agreed to a summit and has promised us a ship to Grand Chokmah, but never mind that. Are you alright?"

Luke pretended to look confused. "I'm fine. Why?"

Tear sat down next to him. "No more secrets." She said this lovingly, though with a hint of accusation.

He sighed, torn between keeping a promise and keeping her from worrying. "I'm just a little tired. I still haven't fully recovered from using my hyperresonance, I guess."

"Then let's get some rest now. We'll probably have an early start tomorrow anyway."

They changed clothes and climbed into bed together. Luke held her close, partly as an apology for being less than honest with her. Tear knew anyway, but decided not to force the matter.

---

It was dark outside. He felt strange, weak, but he wasn't really tired at all. Quietly, he slipped away from Tear and stepped out into the courtyard. Luke had enough time before she got there to think about his condition. It was true he felt…off…since using his hyperresonance.

"You're not alright, are you?"

Luke cringed at the voice. "I woke you up, didn't I? I'm sorry."

"Don't try to change the subject."

"I…don't think I'll be able to recover from using hyperresonance at all any more. Without new seventh fonons being generated, it'll just make me weaker each time I use it."

Tear stood next to him and held his hand softly. "Is that what you're worried about? Then just don't use it. Now that we know what's going on, we won't be caught off guard like that again."

"I hope you're right."

Something dawned on Tear as they stood there. She turned him to face her and hugged him, burying her face in his shirt. "You did that for me." she whispered.

Luke returned her embrace, gently rubbing Tear's back. "It's their fault, not yours."

Tear looked up with a smile. "You know, with lines like that I think you might be turning into Guy."

"Hey!"

They still held each other as they laughed, both hesitant to break away. Eventually it dissolved into their holding hands as they walked back inside, ready to sleep in preparation for the next day's journey.

The couple still managed to wake before the sunrise, which they watched through the window in the comfort of Luke's bed. After some time had passed, Tear turned to face him instead. Luke reached out to brush some loose strands of hair from her face, eliciting a warm smile. He knew he had done the right thing when they were attacked, and even knowing what he had come to realize, he would've done it again. But Luke could tell she was still blaming herself for what happened. Slowly, he moved forward and kissed her. "What am I going to have to do for you to trust me?" he asked softly.

Tear gave him a perplexed look. "Of course I trust you."

Luke placed his hand on her shoulder. "Then trust me when I say it wasn't your fault."

She rolled over, turning her back to him. "I guess I'm becoming an easy read."

"Only because I know you so well. Ever since I came back you've been surprisingly open about your feelings."

"That's because of an oath I made to myself."

"When was this?"

"Well, it was a certain night when I was sitting on the deck of the Albiore when the man I love had just basically told me he loved me…"

* * *

Hmm…it seems even in fanfics I can't avoid the combat. The first version I wrote was nothing like this, but for lack of physical action went a bit heavy on the drama side. So for fear of writing a soap opera (perhaps the greatest fear of any writer of any genre), I opted for the good old fashioned fighting I'm used to from my own original fiction stuff. Granted, there's not much fighting at all in this part, but that seems to be the direction I've taken. Verse 5 might be a while in coming (comparatively speaking), as I really have no idea where I'm going with this right now. Still, I'm shooting to eventually hit short story/novella length overall, so there'll definitely be more to come. 


	5. Canzone di Memoria

So I lied. Well, I did say I had no idea where I was going with it right **then**, so technically I didn't. The human mind comes up with wonderful (though much much much more often bizarre/idiotic) ideas at three in the morning whilst trying to fall asleep. Oh yeah, copyright stuff: I don't own Tales of the Abyss or it's characters, but maybe if I'm really really lucky someone there will stumble across this and be inspired for a sequel (one can always hope). Sooo...this one's the shortest one yet, but lots of stuff happens. Also, don't be alarmed if you have no idea what's going on at first, all of Verse 5 is kind of a time skip thing: first I show you where they are, and then (in Verse 6) I'll show you how they got there.

* * *

Verse 5: Canzone di Memoria

Luke held his ground against the beast's attacks while Guy deftly maneuvered himself around it.

"I'm not seeing any weak spots, Jade!" Guy shouted in frustration.

"It's unlikely they would have created such a thing without some means of controlling it. Keep looking."

Anise began the incantations for Bloody Howling.

"Conserve your energy – we've already established the beast's resistance to fonic artes. Use Tokunaga to help Luke distract it until Guy can find a weak point in its armor."

Anise charged in while Natalia nocked another arrow – the head had proven as impregnable as the rest of it, but its eyes **had **to be vulnerable. Just as she released, the armored monster lurched forward and slammed into Luke. Before he could stop reeling, another attack sent him into the wall of the narrow corridor. Natalia's arrow bounced harmlessly off its shoulder. Anise stayed at arm's length taking pop shots when she could, Tokunaga having already been damaged by the creature's claws.

Luke got up quickly and shook it off. He only needed to bide his time until he had gathered enough energy to unleash Radiant Howl. Until then, Soul Crush would be more shield than sword.

Charged at once again, this time Luke managed to dodge the blow, though the narrow confines of the hallway didn't make it an easy feat. As he landed, he took a quick look behind himself: Natalia continued trying for the perfect shot while Tear was struggling just to keep everyone healed. Jade stood as the last line of defense for the two of them, neither attacking nor using fonic artes, though he too seemed to be preparing for an all-out attack.

A roar snapped his attention forward once again, just in time to see both the beast's massive arms coming down on top of him. Just as he was about to get hit, the floor began to shake violently, sending everyone momentarily off-balance, including their attacker. Luke took advantage of the opportunity as the quake subsided to unleash everything he had in a furious assault. By the time he stopped to catch his breath, Luke had only managed enough damage that he might as well have been attacking a fortress.

"Keep it steady," Guy yelled out, still behind it, "I'm going to try and get on its back!"

Anise grappled one of its arms to the floor with Tokunaga while Luke pinned the other up against the wall. "Now!" they shouted in unison, already only barely managing to hold it still.

Guy leapt onto the creature's back and quickly began stabbing at any part of its armor that looked vulnerable. Nothing seemed to work. As he was about to try thrusting his sword into the back of the beast's neck, another tremor came. This one, much more forceful than the last, knocked Guy from its back as well as freed it from Luke and Anise.

As the group recovered from this latest shockwave, Jade yelled out a warning. "We can't afford to waste any more time here!"

Luke jumped backwards to avoid another attack. "I'll keep it distracted! Everyone else go on ahead!"

The group reluctantly slipped by while Luke taunted the creature by repeatedly moving in and out of its attack range. One more had yet to pass.

"I'm staying here!" she shouted to those already on the other side.

Luke smiled, sure that she was thinking of their pact.

---

Jade couldn't help but look back as they continued towards the core.

"Don't tell me you're worried about them?" Guy asked.

"Not at all. I was just thinking how incredible it would be to examine such a bizarre creation."

"You noticed then…" Guy said quietly, so the others wouldn't overhear.

"Of course. I'm almost surprised you were able to bring yourself to attack it."

"There'll be time to talk later!" Natalia shouted back as she and Anise continued without them.

"Sorry, Natalia!"

Jade feigned an indignant sigh. "Very well."

They hadn't made it far before the path split in two separate directions.

"What now?" Guy asked as their progress came to a grinding halt.

"Don't worry. Since this wasn't in the blueprints, it's likely they both meet at the core. Or at least one of them does while the other leads to a trap. Either way, as the only other one who can operate it, you and Natalia should take one direction; Anise and I will take the other."

Guy nodded and quickly made his choice. "Come on, Natalia." he said as he took off down the left corridor.

"Good luck." Natalia offered the remaining two before running to catch up with Guy.

"You too!" Anise shouted.

"Well then, shall we be going?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Anise commented as they continued, "but you don't seem very worried, Colonel."

"And why should I? It could just be luck, but we haven't encountered any enemies since that last one, and I don't think we will until we reach the core."

---

Guy stared in disbelief.

"W-who would–" Natalia stammered.

"–Put a chasm in the middle of a hallway? I know..." Guy peered down into the abyss. It looked like several stories down before even hitting the **top** of the largest of the fon machines below them, and the machines were huge. Under ordinary circumstances, he would rather go down and study them than continue forward. Looking up again, he tried to gauge the distance to the opposite side of the gap. _Not even with a running start…_

"Any ideas?"

"Gimme a minute." he responded, leaning against the wall and staring into the fon lantern hanging opposite him. _We've come way too far to turn back and take the other path now. Besides, what if this is the only path to the core? _"Wait…" He looked across the hole and saw another lantern right on the other side. "Do you think you could fire an arrow right over where that lantern is sticking out of the wall?"

"Yes, but why?"

"We can tie some rope to the end of the arrow, then tug it right as it passes over the lantern – it'll come back and wrap around a few times like a grappling hook, and we can tie the other end to this lantern here."

"Okay?"

Natalia followed his instructions and they managed to get the rope tied up properly.

"Now what?"

"Now we use the rope to get across."

Natalia eyed the rope warily. "I don't like the looks of it…"

Guy stepped towards the wall, gripping the rope firmly. "If it'll make you feel any better, I'll go first."

"That doesn't make me feel any better at all!"

He smiled. "I appreciate the sentiment, but there aren't any other options and we're running out of time." Having said that, he hoisted himself up and shimmied over the pit, his back pressed firmly against the wall for support.

Natalia worriedly alternated her gaze between Guy and the other end of the rope, expecting it to unravel at any moment. It was when watching the rope that she noticed the fon lantern shaking. "Guy! Another quake!"

Guy let himself slip between the rope and the wall and then hung underneath with his arms and legs wrapped around it. By the time the tremor subsided, he'd been banged up against the wall several times but was otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so."

As he attempted to scuttle across the rest of the way, Natalia watched in horror as the fon lantern on her side came loose from the wall, sending Guy into the face of the opposite side of the chasm. "Guy!"

Guy clung to the rope for dear life. _I'm okay… _"I'm okay!"

Natalia's relief was palpable as he reached the ledge and climbed up onto solid ground. While Guy was catching his breath, Natalia voiced a concern. "What do we do now?"

"Go back and try to catch up with Jade and Anise. I'll be alright on my own."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Besides, it's not like we have a choice."

Natalia hesitated to turn around. "Be careful, please…"

"You too."

---

Jade winced in pain. "That was a foolish thing to do…" he muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry, Colonel." Anise apologized to the man who'd put himself between her and the wall she'd been thrown towards by the force of the latest quake.

"Perhaps from here on out you should use Tokunaga – I'm sure he could provide better cushioning than I." He rubbed his back. "But for the shockwave being that strong, the core must be close by."

Anise enlarged Tokunaga and climbed onto its back. "Then let's get going! Guy and Natalia might already be there!"

"If we must." he replied, dusting off his uniform.

A familiar roar. Sure enough, in the cavernous reactor room, between them and the core, stood a similar-looking beast to the one they'd left behind earlier.

"Another one?" Anise complained.

"The last one was too far away from the core to be its final wall of defense."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I don't like having to explain simple things."

Anise ignored him and charged in to battle. Tokunaga's punches seemed just as ineffective as before.

"Anise, keep it busy."

"Sure thing!"

"I, who stand in the full light of the heavens command thee, who opens the gates of hell, come forth divine lightning! This ends now! Indignation!" Fonic glyphs appeared around the creature and the arcane bolts struck down, seeming to go straight through its armor, eliciting a pained scream. Jade made his move for the core, but in spite of the damage inflicted, the creature quickly rose and intercepted him. "Persistent…"

The two made several more attempts to reach the core, but with the open space the room provided, it would just ignore Anise's distractions and attack Jade whenever he got too close to the core. Jade searched the room for anything that might be of help.

"Anise, help me lead him this way!" Jade started backing away from the core, in the opposite direction of the way they came in.

"Alright!" Anise circled around and attacked the beast once again, then followed Luke's tactic of moving in and out of its attack range. "What are we doing?"

"Just wait for it." Jade said with a smile.

Anise had no idea what to expect, but if Jade was smiling, she knew they'd already won the battle – it was only a matter of time.

Jade waited as well, while watching the entrance. Not the entrance they had come through, but the entrance to another corridor right next to it.

Anise took a hard hit. "How much…longer do we have to wait?"

"Not much longer." came his reply. He didn't know how long it would take, but they **had** to hold out until then. No sense crushing her resolve by saying that at a time like this, though.

"Guy, stop the core! Now!" Jade yelled across the room over the roar of the fon machine in its center. It wouldn't be much longer before it destabilized and exploded.

"Right!" Guy ran straight for the core and activated the controls. Moments later, he made a startling discovery. "These things are powered by the core! If I shut it down, they'll shut down too!"

"Then, by all means..." Jade responded while deflecting an attack with his spear.

---

_I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. _Luke leaned on his sword to catch his breath for the split second his foe allowed.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine! And don't worry about healing me so much unless I–" he couldn't even finish his complaint before he was put back on the defensive. Moments later he was shoved into the wall, and near instantly he felt better. _Damn it, Tear, conserve your strength!_

Before Luke could stand up, the creature forced its way past him and headed straight for Tear. It was all she could do to avoid his attacks, and the thing just ignored any attempt Luke made to force its attention back on him. Within minutes it had backed her into a corner. Tear began singing her Force Field fonic hymn, but there wouldn't be enough time to finish it. The creature raised both its fists into the air for a crushing blow.

It stopped. Tear could see Luke behind it, focusing energy from his fingertips directly at it.

"Luke! Don't!"

He released the energy and in an instant the creature exploded in a blinding flash of light. Afterwards, Luke felt himself fall to the ground. He was surrounded by nothing… Someone's voice screamed out to him from the distance, but their words would not carry through the void. It felt like he was disappearing, as he had in Eldrant.

_I'm sorry, Tear._

---

"Got it!" Guy shouted triumphantly. The core fell silent and the monstrous guard slumped to the ground. "Now I'll just start it back up and lock the system down so it can't be sabotaged again."

"Can't we just leave it off?" Anise complained, watching the deactivated sentry carefully.

"Relax, Anise. They shouldn't turn on again unless the alarm is activated manually. Besides, if we left the core off, the entire island would sink to the bottom of the ocean, us along with it." Guy explained.

"Right, and then what would've been the point of coming here at all?"

Guy stepped away from the controls as the core started up once again and, having long since learned to expect the unexpected, watched the sentry just in case. It stayed dormant. With a sigh of relief, he said "I bet Luke and Tear are happy these things shut down."

* * *

I know what you're thinking: "where did Guy get the rope, and why did he have it?" I'm sure that's your only question, too. Mwa ha ha ha ha… Ahem. Sorry. To answer that one and only question – why **wouldn't** he have rope? It's standard adventuring equipment, even if you never see it once in the entire game. That's all I have to say though. The End. 

Relax, I'm just kidding. There's definitely more to come, including flashback explaining how they got to where they were (and what that pact is that I mentioned briefly), as well as what happens now that disaster has been averted, and what happens to Luke.


	6. To Live and Die

Sorry about the cliffhanger there, folks, but what's a good story without at least one, right? Well, as different as the last two verses were from the first three, Verse 6 may seem different still – mostly because unlike all the others, I wrote part of this one out by hand first because I was on a business trip at the time (eschewing using a laptop for lack of actually owning one). I didn't really have writer's block or anything, but for some reason it still took forever to write this…

Copyright stuff is the same as it's always been of course. Like I said at the beginning of Verse 5, this will be a look at how and why they wound up in the depths of the Isle of Feres trying to stop its core from exploding. Also, this is part **one **of said information (and the end result of knowing where I wanted the story to go without knowing how I wanted it to get there at the time, but writing it anyway). Well, here it is, and so ends another boring introduction. Enjoy!

* * *

Verse 6: To Live and Die

"Well, now I feel a bit lost as to what to do," Luke complained as they left the conference hall in Yulia City.

"How do you mean?" Guy asked.

"Well, we got everyone together for the summit, but what are **we **supposed to do while they're** deciding** what to do?"

"There's no reason not to do a little investigating on our own," Jade suggested.

"Where would we start? Those soldiers who attacked the Isle of Feres came from all over," Tear reminded him.

"That's true. But they only came on **one **ship. I had some people look into it, and it seems the ship in question left from Daath Bay. It's likely there's a base of operations in Daath where they all gathered before heading out."

"Right under our noses!" Anise said angrily.

"It's just as likely that they have other bases elsewhere," Jade continued, "or that they traveled to Daath Bay on another ship in order to conceal their origins, and there's no base in Daath at all."

"Still, for a group demanding adherence to the Score, Daath seems like a good place to start asking questions, if only for its history with the Score," Tear commented, trying not to imply incompetence on Anise's part in running the order.

"It's strange though…"

"What's that, Jade?" Natalia asked.

"Why are they only becoming so organized now? The Order has been under reform for some time now. In fact, even when Ion was Fon Master, many officials were leaning towards reform. So why now? The only explanation would be…"

"What?" Luke asked, irritated with Jade's trailing off.

"Oh, nevermind. I was just thinking aloud."

Everyone else rolled their eyes.

"What, you don't believe me? Why would I lie?"

"With you, nobody knows," Guy accused.

"I'm shocked and hurt that you feel that way. Really. It's killing me inside," Jade responded with biting sarcasm.

"If the two of you are done, perhaps we should head for Daath?" Natalia said in a berating tone, particularly directed at Guy.

As the others left, Guy whispered "What did **I **do?"

"You know better than to start an argument with Jade."

The two hurried to catch up.

"I'm a little worried," Anise said as they approached the docks.

"Why is that?" Luke asked curiously.

"Well, since Florian chose to become a figurehead for the replicas, a lot of replicas that didn't want to live on Feres moved to Daath instead."

Luke reacted to the word 'figurehead,' remembering the conversation he'd had with his father. It wasn't that he didn't like the idea of a figurehead, it was the necessity of one that bothered him.

"So if the Original Order has a base there, then all of the replicas in Daath are potentially in danger," Guy surmised.

"Are there any other cities with a high number of replicas?" Luke asked.

"Well, aside from Yulia City, which I doubt they've infiltrated in any large numbers if at all, the only other city with a higher-than-average population is Keterburg."

Now it was Jade's turn to react. "I doubt they'd show themselves there. If they even voiced their opinions about, let alone attacked a replica, they'd likely be thrown out of the city."

"That's thanks to all your hard work there, Colonel!" Anise added cheerfully.

Luke stopped. "That's right…"

"Something on your mind, Luke?" Jade inquired.

"Yeah." Luke extended his hand.

Jade looked at it a moment before accepting the handshake. "What's this for?"

"I never properly thanked you for all the work you've been doing to help the replicas gain acceptance. So…thank you."

For once, Jade seemed speechless. But quickly, he informed Luke "I have my own reasons for…getting involved. It's hardly a selfless act."

_You can't just say 'you're welcome,' can you? _"Well, let's get going."

"Let's."

---

"Well, if the information we gathered is accurate, it shouldn't be much father," Jade commented as they walked down a deserted residential street. Most of the buildings were in varying states of disrepair ranging from dilapidated to condemned.

"We never really explored Daath before, but was it always so…" Luke trailed off.

Anise looked troubled. "No. After Eldrant, a lot of people forgot the good that the Score is capable of and lost faith altogether. Most of them decided there was no reason to stay here any more."

"So it makes sense for a group advocating subservience to the Score to be based in such a neighborhood," Jade concluded. "We're here."

Luke kept a firm grip on his sword as he approached the door. "I'll go first," he ordered quietly before knocking.

No answer.

Luke knocked again. "Hello?" If they **were **inside, it didn't seem like they were going to just let him in. So he kicked the door down, drew his blade and walked inside.

"Luke!" Tear shouted sternly.

"Still as impetuous as ever, I see," Jade lamented as everyone followed Luke inside.

"There's no one here!" Anise complained as the group gathered back at the entrance after searching the entire building.

"No, but I did find some partially burned papers in the fireplace," Jade announced. "The group that lived here is probably the same group that attacked Feres. Some of these notes point to another base in Chesedonia, however."

"It could be a trap," Guy noted.

"Yes; that these notes were only partially burned before the fire was extinguished really only serves to raise more suspicion."

"It's not like we have any other leads to go on," Luke said. "We should hurry. I don't like playing catch-up."

---

A small group of soldiers had recently been seen making frequent trips between Chesedonia and some ruins only a little ways into the desert.

He hadn't intended to get separated from everyone, but that's the way things had turned out. Rushing ahead into the ruins had led a heavy stone door to come crashing down between him and the rest of the group. Tear would yell at him later, but for the time being his only concern was finding this "Original Order" and wipe the floor with them.

After Luke came back from Eldrant, even knowing the kinds of mistreatment and outright abuse that some replicas were subjected to, he had no interest in becoming some sort of activist. To be back was enough; to live his own life. Somehow, this was different. They weren't just claiming replicas were less than human, they were saying replicas didn't even have the right to live.

As he progressed through the halls, he grew increasingly aware of the silence surrounding him. With each step forward the silence became heavier until the only sounds remaining were the echoes of his footfalls and the beating of his own heart. A smell...what was it? Iron? No, it was blood. Rounding a corner, Luke found the bodies of Kimlascan and Malkuth soldiers littering the hall, slain in violent fashion. From their positioning, it didn't look as though infighting had broken out. They were attacked by someone or something. Their wounds looked to be inflicted by a sword, which at least identified their attacker as human.

An intrusion - an interruption - snapped him back to attention. Luke scanned his surroundings. He stood still, inches from a doorway to his right. The intrusion; awareness flooded into him at once of a brief sound of movement from within that had long since passed. It resounded in his mind. Slowly, he reached for his sword. He took a deep breath to prepare himself, the sound of which echoed through the corridors, or had he only imagined it?

The sound of steel on steel, grinding, sparks of friction and impending death. The moment Luke had rounded the corner he was attacked by someone standing just inside and had just barely managed to raise his sword in time to parry the blow. Fighting instinct took over as their swords clashed again and again. His opponent's technique was unlike anything he'd seen before: Luke had to put all his effort into defense - the attacks may have been light, but they were fast enough that he had a hard time keeping track of the enemy's blade.

That smell again. Blood. Luke fell on his knee, hard. The slash had landed behind his leg. As everything slowed down, Luke took the time to examine his opponent: A tall, lithe man wearing the uniform of the Oracle Knight Intelligence Division. A mask obscured his face, but Luke could see his eyes widen as he stopped his blade just short of Luke's neck.

"You? You're...Luke fon Fabre!"

Luke took the opportunity to push the blade away and stand back up, bringing his sword up to a defensive stance with him. "Yeah, what of it? I suppose you want to kill me because I'm a replica?"

"Idiot. You don't even know what you're involved in, do you? Still, that you've managed to get this far means you might yet make a valuable asset." The stranger reached into a satchel and tossed Luke a roll of bandages. "Wrap that wound in the back of your leg. I'll wait."

Luke eyed the man suspiciously, but started treating his wound nonetheless. "Who are you, anyway?"

"For now? None of your concern. If we get out of here alive I might tell you."

"You're with the Intelligence Division, right?"

"You're just full of questions, aren't you? Honestly, I don't see how Sergeant Grants puts up with you."

"You know Tear?"

"Not personally, no. Are you just about finished?"

Luke stood up and pulled his pant leg down over the bandages. "Yeah. So will you at least tell me what's going on here?"

"What's there to tell? This is where I've tracked the Original Order to. I'm sure the same could be said for you, though I'm sure you have no idea that the head of the group is supposedly in these ruins somewhere."

Luke couldn't stand this guy's attitude. "Then thanks for the tip - I'll go on ahead and kill the bastard then," he said as he started marching past the man and towards the door on the opposite end of the room.

"Two blades are better than one; even I'm willing to admit that," the man replied as he turned to walk up to and pass Luke to take the lead. "Just try to be a little quieter; I could hear you coming down that hall from a mile away."

---

"I can't believe he ran off like that again!" Tear fumed.

"Well, with all these monster bodies lying around, we can at least assume we're headed towards **someone**," Jade pointed out.

"That Luke…no matter how much older he gets, he's still just as hotheaded as ever," Natalia complained.

"Well, Luke has already proven that it sometimes takes a disaster to get someone to change their ways," Jade chided.

"I really don't think that's appropriate, and this is hardly a productive use of our time!" Tear said in Luke's defense while walking off ahead of the others.

Natalia stopped to give Jade a look of disgust before chasing after her.

"Was it something I said?"

"You **really **enjoy setting people off like that, don't you?" Guy asked rhetorically.

"You have no idea."

"Come on, Colonel, they're going to leave us behind!" Anise pushed.

The group wandered essentially blindly through the narrow pathways of the ruins until they stumbled across a hall lined with corpses. Guy leaned in to inspect one of the bodies.

"It looks like this was done by a swordsman."

"Luke?" Tear sounded worried. The soldiers weren't just cut down – the wounds inflicted were brutal.

"I'll admit he's been acting a little strange lately, but I don't think he'd go ballistic like this."

Tear approached Guy to get a better look. Her eyes widened in shock after giving the body a closer examination.

"What is it?" Guy asked.

"N-nothing. I just realized that means someone else is down here killing people." _That technique…the positions of the wounds…it's Locrian-style swordsmanship!_

"There's some blood on the floor in this room over here!" Anise called out. Everyone gathered inside while she pointed out the stain.

"It's fresh. Moreover, since there aren't any bodies in here, it means the battle stopped before anyone was killed," Guy surmised.

"And what does **that **mean?" Natalia asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure. I just hope this isn't…" Guy glanced up at Tear.

Tear swallowed hard. She couldn't shake this sudden feeling of dread. Luke could take care of himself – she knew that. But that was just it: Luke hadn't been acting like himself since this whole business with the Original Order started. "Come on. If it's still fresh, then whoever's it is couldn't have gotten far." Tear took off running, her pace nearly matching that of her heartbeat.

"Yet more evidence the two of them belong together," Jade lamented as they started after her.

---

"Dentin!" Luke's sudden companion shouted to the older man standing at the center of a cavernous room.

"Well, well, if it isn't Commander Briggs. I was expecting one of their lapdogs to come after me eventually, but I certainly didn't expect them to send **you**." The old man turned his attention to Luke, though still talking to the Locrian Commander. "I see you've brought me a lovely present though. Perhaps I'll let you live."

"Where the hell do you think **you're **going?" he responded as the old man started walking away.

The man made a move for something: a small metal sphere. He tossed it in the air and caught it a few times before pressing a red button on its surface. He then tossed it over his shoulder and continued on. "Enjoy!"

"Get back here!" The young soldier gave chase, as did Luke.

There was a loud pulsing noise. Luke fell to the ground – it felt like it was coming from inside his head. Then a pull. It wasn't a pull at his body, but a feeling as though his very life was being pulled out from within. This sensation was new, but he was able to distinguish another feeling underneath. It was hyperressonance, and he couldn't control it. The last thing he remembered seeing was that Commander running out another door, following the other man.

---

The earth itself seemed to be shaking as powerful shockwaves ripped through the corridor. Tear recognized the sensation immediately and rounded the final corner leading into the room in which Luke stood at the center. No, he was…floating. The waves themselves seemed to take on a physical force that pushed her away. Still, she pressed on. She **had **to get to him.

"Tear!"

She ignored the screams of her companions behind her. It wasn't even a conscious decision – at this point she was only following her instincts. Tear wrapped her arms around him, though she could not pull him to the ground. "Luke…listen to me, please… I'm here. I'm with you now."

_Tear? _He could hear her. He could feel her embrace, and yet it felt as though she were far away. Luke wanted to scream, to warn her, and tell her to escape. But even these things were beyond his control at this point.

_Is this the extent of my will? No! It's one thing to die, but I won't take her with me! I can't hurt her…never again!_

From miles away, he felt the impact as his body fell to the floor. Distorted voices of the friends who had gathered around him, but their words would not carry the distance. And soon there was nothing at all.

---

Tear's eyes shot open. She had only intended to rest her head on Luke's bed for a minute, but judging from how refreshed she felt, she had probably been out for a while. Luke was still asleep. Part of her wanted him to have woken up, but another part was glad she didn't miss it. Guy gave her a polite smile from his chair closer to the door. Sunlight filtered in through the frost-covered window, creating an almost mystical pattern on the floor. Tear let herself be mesmerized by this for a while.

"Tear?" It was Luke. She tried not to seem startled.

Inwardly, she couldn't even begin to express how relieved she was that he woke up, but now that he had, she was reminded how mad she was at him for being so reckless in the first place. "Yes?" she answered while continuing to watch the light of the sunrise play on the frozen glass.

"Tear…umm…"

Relenting, she turned to face him, then followed Luke's gaze to his hand. Which is when she first noticed she'd been tightly squeezing it the entire time. "I'm sorry, I–" She quickly moved her hand away.

Luke reached out and took it back, letting his thumb brush back and forth over the top of her hand.

_So much for being angry with him…_

"It's about time you woke up," Guy complained as he walked over.

Luke leaned his head up to scan the room.

"Everyone else went back to Chesedonia to try to find more clues, now that it's obvious they're doing something there."

"Though there were certainly better ways to find out," Tear mumbled.

Luke struggled to find his voice for a moment. "Where are we?"

"We took you to Jade's lab in Keterburg," Guy explained. "A lot of the top researchers in Belkend came to this facility after he opened it."

Luke rubbed his temples with his free hand, trying to collect his thoughts. "How long was I out?"

"A few days now. Tear, would you mind getting one of the doctors to let them know he's awake?"

Tear gave Guy an angry look, but something in his eyes insisted. Reluctantly, she stood up, letting her hand slip from Luke's. "I'll be back in a minute," she said sadly, then left.

Guy waited a few moments after the door closed before he started talking with Luke. "I found what it was that set you off like that." He paused. "It was a fon machine. Something I've never seen before – something from the Dawn Age."

Luke took a moment to process the information. "Then that means…it was stolen from Yulia City?"

"I don't think something like that would be easy to steal. It's more likely there's someone inside, high enough up to have access to that kind of fontech."

"That fits in with everything else…"

"What do you mean?"

"I bumped into someone down there, I think I remember the other guy said his name was Briggs. He looked like he was in the Intelligence Division of the Oracle Knights."

"I suppose they **would **get involved if they suspected someone in their own ranks of being a traitor."

Luke paused. "So, no one else knows?"

"I told Jade about it, but I don't think Tear needs to know until we can find out more."

"Right…" Luke didn't like keeping secrets from her. _Well, I'll tell her if she asks._

"I'm sorry, Luke…"

"What's with you, all of a sudden?"

"I haven't even asked you how you were feeling," Guy said with a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry about it," Luke laughed, "I think I'm doing alright. Just feeling a little weak is all."

"That's probably just from sleeping so long. Oh, and Luke…" Guy paused, hesitant to bring it up.

"What is it?"

"About Tear… She'd probably never say anything about it, so I thought you should know: she didn't leave your side for a minute. Not once."

Luke just nodded. It wasn't as though he expected otherwise, but he hadn't really thought about it at all. That was why Guy told him, to remind him not to take her for granted.

A knock at the door.

"Come in."

Shu walked in, followed by Tear. Luke couldn't help but smile – he hadn't seen Shu since he returned from the Tower of Rem.

"I'm sure you've never been so happy to prove someone wrong," Shu said jokingly.

"Well sure, you **did** tell me I was going to die, after all."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad I was wrong. Still," Shu reprimanded, "if you keep using your powers like this, you may yet prove me right." Shu looked over a few charts and checked some monitors that Luke was attached to. "Everything seems to be in order. I recommend further bed rest, but if you'll allow me a moment I'll get you unhooked from these machines."

"Well, as long as everything's alright, I'm going out for some fresh air," Guy announced.

"Sure, we'll see you later, then," Tear replied.

Guy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder on his way out. The gesture made her feel oddly nostalgic, and she got the sense something was wrong.

"Okay," Shu said, dusting his hands, "you're all set. Just call me if you need anything."

Tear nodded as he left, then sat down next to Luke's bed.

"I'm really glad you're well."

"Tear," Luke began, hoping that starting the sentence would help him finish it. After coming up empty, he admitted "I don't even know how to apologize for making you worry about me as much as I did."

Tear smiled. _At least he understands… _ "It's alright. I suppose worrying is just a part of marriage. Or, at least, marriage to **you**," she laughed.

Luke forced a laugh, himself. He didn't really like the joke, but it wasn't as though he was in a position to argue. Besides, if she was making jokes it meant she was okay, and if she was okay, **they** were okay.

"I guess that means Guy told you…"

"Yeah."

"So," Tear said, remembering her earlier feeling that something was amiss, "what else did you talk about?"

Luke sighed. She wasn't one to miss a beat. "Guy seems to think that whatever caused me to lose control was a fon machine from the Dawn Age. I don't know anything about that, just that…that it felt like…" _Akzeriuth._

Tear nodded. He didn't need to say it.

"I-I don't really remember what happened, but I think I remember hearing your voice. You…saved me, didn't you?"

She shook her head. "I just held onto you. I thought I was going to lose you again."

Luke slid the covers off and started to step out of bed.

"Luke! You shouldn't be getting up until–"

But he was already up. "You could've died," he said as he walked to the window. A burst of cold air blew in when he opened it. "If I'd… You would've died right with me."

"Of course I would have!" Tear almost shouted, standing up. "…wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, but that's different…"

"How is it different? And don't you dare say it's because you're a replica."

"It is and it isn't."

Tear wanted to knock some sense into him, but decided to hear him out.

"There's no changing that that's who I am, and it's why I'm a target. If they kill me, I don't want you thinking of joining me."

_That idiot…_ He wasn't going to change her mind. With Eldrant **still **fresh in her mind, she would never let herself step away from his side. _What was it Jade had said? Even if he doesn't want me there. _Because she cared about him. Because she loved him. "So we'll make a pact," Tear said solemnly.

"A pact?"

"We'll live to protect each other. And when the time comes, we die together. No one dies alone, no one has to follow."

Luke considered this. He didn't want to think about dying at all, but Tear was truly concerned. For all her training as a soldier, she had only ever worked in the Intelligence Division. She'd never had comrades fighting alongside her to worry about before. Then again, Tear wasn't asking everyone to make a pact, she was asking **him**. "I'll swear to it…but only if you swear not to do anything reckless like that again."

Tear rolled her eyes. "I should be asking **you **that. But all right."

"Well," Luke scratched his head, "what do we do now?"

"We seal the pact."

"How?"

"Traditionally, we'd make a small cut in our palms and then shake hands."

"Untraditionally?" Luke asked with a mischievous smile.

Smiling in kind, Tear responded "I suppose there are other ways to seal a pact, if you're up for it."

---

"Guy!" Natalia came running to him. "How is everything? Is Luke okay?"

"He's fine. He woke up a few hours ago," he explained while Jade and Anise caught up. "How about you?"

"I-I'm fine," came her confused reply. Then it hit her. "You were worried about me?"

"Of course!" Guy blurted this out without thinking, then quickly explained "Not that I think you can't take care of yourself," and having dug himself in a deeper hole added, "or that Jade or Anise wouldn't have been able to protect you if something **did **happen."

Natalia sighed. "Guy, please, just be quiet."

"Right, sorry. So, how did the investigation go?"

"Not too well, I'm afraid," Jade responded. "By the time we made our way back, they'd pretty much cleaned the place out."

"Don't say it like that, Colonel! It makes it sound like we didn't find **anything**!" Anise complained.

"First, if you'll allow me to voice a concern, I suggest we do not tell Luke about this."

Guy gave Jade a curious look.

"Given his recklessness lately, it's probably for the best if he doesn't know what we found. There weren't any specifics, but it seems like they're planning a large-scale attack on replicas sometime soon."

"Besides, there's not much we can do – we don't even know where they're going to attack," Natalia added.

Guy took a moment to absorb the information. "Well, if we don't have any other leads, I suppose we should head back to Yulia City to see about the summit."

"I agree. If nothing else we can settle the matter of jurisdiction. Besides, there are a few people there I'd like to ask some questions."

Guy nodded, knowing what Jade meant.

"Is Luke well enough to travel?" Anise asked.

"Probably, but given what happened, I think we should give those two some time to themselves."

* * *

I'm happy with how the pact scene turned out, though I think I'll choose to remain uncomfortably silent about how I ended it. I felt it needed to be done at least once, but from experience I know the more seriously I try to write those kinds of scenes, the more juvenile they come out. So that'll have to do unless you actually **want** a whole buncha rapid-fire jokes about melons :-P 

Verse 7 should answer any remaining questions you might have about Verse 5. I know this is a back-assward way of doing things, but it's an unfortunate consequence of my horrible, horrible writing style of making lynchpin scenes first and playing connect the dots later. Incidentally, look forward to a **ridiculously **awesome scene in Verse 7 – I'm never wholly satisfied with anything I write, but my confidence in it is up there with some of my work back in high school. You know, before I looked back years later and realized how god-awful my writing was back then. Boo naivety; h00ray beer! Ahem…improvement. I meant improvement.


	7. Amore Assoluto

I apologize in advance, but I cut the promised "ridiculously awesome scene" for the time being. Aesthetically, it works much better at a later time, but you'll just have to take my word for it. This one's not nearly as long as the last one…I was hemorrhaging fiction at the time, but that sadly seems to have stopped. It's also very Luke-centric, but if you really can't stand Luke, you've made a strange decision in reading this fanfic anyway. Oh, and (insert funny comment about not owning the copyrights to Tales of the Abyss here). Defeating the twin demons of procrastination and writers block, here's Verse 7 – Now with more Italian titles!

* * *

Verse 7: Amore Assoluto

Guy ran slightly ahead of the others and looked around excitedly. "Man, no matter how many times we come here it never gets old!"

Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Now that you're a noble," Anise teased, "maybe you should consider a summer home here?"

Guy turned to Natalia, a look of desperation in his eyes. "Could we?" he begged.

Everyone laughed, including Tear – a fact which brought the others to a screeching halt. 

"W-what?" she demanded, and then kept walking without waiting for an answer.

"I know. She laughs now," Luke commented, scratching the back of his head.

"It's so…weird," Anise replied.

"Don't be like that…" Luke complained. "She'll wind up going back in her shell."

"It's just…unnatural," Anise continued.

"I give up," Luke said as he chased after Tear.

"So she's laughing now, huh?" Guy asked no one in particular.

"We all know who we have to thank for **that**." Jade said dryly.

"I think she has a nice laugh," Natalia defended.

The group continued to the conference hall where Teodoro was waiting for them.

"Your investigation has kept you for so long that you've missed the entire summit."

"I'm sorry, grandfather. We would have returned sooner, but our latest encounter with the Original Order had forced us to spend some time…recovering."

"Then I am glad to see you all well. Come and sit, and I shall inform you all on what has transpired in your absence."

The group seated themselves around the large table that dominated the room, while Teodoro himself sat at its head.

"First, though I doubt you even had any question of this matter, all nations have agreed to allow you carte blanche in running this investigation. Furthermore, Malkuth, Kimlasca, and the Reformed Order have all already begun investigations of our own, and anything these investigations turn up will be made available to you. I cannot speak for the others, but I can assure you that I've assigned a good man to this task. Commander Reynard Briggs of the Intelligence Division is one of the best in his field, though a bit disagreeable at times."

"You can say that again," Luke said sarcastically, eliciting curious looks from his companions.

"You've met?" Teodoro inquired.

"Yeah, in some ruins outside Chesedonia."

Tear recalled the bodies they'd found and the manner in which the soldiers were killed. "Grandfather, is this the same Briggs who was demoted and transferred to the Intelligence Divison from our regular forces for conduct unbecoming an officer?"

Teodoro frowned. "Indeed. Though his tactics are morally questionable at best, his skills are simply too valuable to lose, let alone risk his defecting to an enemy."

"Morally questionable?" Tear nearly shouted in indignation, "The man–"

"–Now's hardly the time, Tear. If you'll permit me, I'd like to discuss a matter of much greater importance."

"Go right ahead," Jade answered before Tear could reply.

"Insurgency has been on the rise in both Malkuth and Kimlasca. While their numbers are not as such that either nation could erupt in civil war, we cannot discount the possibility of both groups unifying under one banner and bringing a global conflict. Emperor Peony and King Ingobert VI have both agreed to spread their armies out to hopefully prevent, but at least slow, its spreading any further amongst their ranks."

"Hmm…" Jade pondered audibly.

"What's up?" Guy whispered.

"Nothing, at least for now. I'll look into it later."

With that cryptic answer, Guy gave up and resumed listening to Teodoro.

"…so for now, there's not much else that can be done until the insurgents actually **do **something. I don't think this will have any bearing on your investigation, but you should know if only to be wary of whom you trust." Teodoro rose from the table. "Now…if you intend to continue your investigation right away, I would suggest you at least stay the night here. I'd be glad to put you up at one of the inns."

"We thank you for your generosity," Jade quickly replied for the group.

---

It had been years since the last time Luke had been inside Tear's home. The same held true for her as well, as, at least before his return there were too many painful memories for her there. Though in the beginning she had made the occasional trip to visit Teodoro, it quickly fell to him to make the trip to Feres when they wanted to meet.

Luke took a moment to absorb his surroundings, something he'd never really had the opportunity to do in the past. The decor was fairly spartan; this was partly because she'd taken many of her belongings to Feres when she left, but Luke was certain it was mostly that way due to the walls around herself that her military training had erected.

_What's so great about all that training, _he thought to himself, _if it means you can't even be comfortable being yourself in your own home?_

Her home… With everything going on, he'd forgotten all about their discussion what felt like ages ago. Waiting for him in Baticul was his family and the house he grew up in, but this was Tear's **home**…

Luke took another look around before heading upstairs. It wasn't very large, but having spent as much time as they had living out of tents, anything with a solid roof and a bed was more than enough. He wouldn't mind living here at all…once this matter of the Original Order was cleared up.

Tear wasn't in her bedroom, but he hadn't really expected her to be, either. He stopped to look out the window and found her sitting at the edge of the flowerbed. Luke waited a moment to make certain she was not talking to Van before he opened the door and headed out to her.

"If I'm interrupting…" he began, still unsure.

"No. I love him, but I'm still not ready to forgive him," Tear replied, looking at the simple shrine she'd erected as though it were a conduit between the siblings through which she could curse him and beg his forgiveness for doing so all at once.

"What's there to forgive?" A question which almost required a shocked and confused look in response. "He may have taken things to an extreme," he continued without waiting for one, "but I think he honestly believed in his heart he was doing the right thing."

"Still…" Tear countered, never once taking her eyes off her brother's grave, "if it weren't for him, none of this would have happened."

"If it weren't for Master Van," Luke said as he sat down next to her, "you and I would never have met."

"T-that's true," Tear stammered, shocked by his sudden proximity, but more so by the fact that something so obvious had never once occurred to her.

The couple sat in silence for some time, though soon enough the weight of something clung to the air around them…drove a wedge between them. Luke did not miss the change in the atmosphere.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Come on, Tear, you **did **promise you'd be more open," he chided playfully in an effort to cheer her up.

It didn't work. Tear looked away as his words seemed to have the complete opposite of their intended effect.

"I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I just want you to know I'm right here if you do."

"…Thanks, Luke."

"You know, unless you're mad at me or something – then just pretend I'm **not** here," he smiled.

Inwardly, Tear was smiling as well – not so much at his joke but at the incredibly poor taste in which it was made. _He's always got to make a joke when he's uncomfortable… I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if his jokes weren't all so terrible._

"Come on," Luke said, standing up, "let's go back inside and get some rest." He extended his hand to help her up and continued to hold hers after.

"I feel a little bad about sleeping here while everyone else is at the inn."

Luke let out a commiserating chuckle. "How do you think **I **feel? I don't even have the excuse of this being my home. At least, not yet," he added with a smile, remembering his earlier conclusion.

Jade sat rather impatiently in the chair at Tear's desk, though he would at least respect their privacy enough to wait for the young couple to come back inside before he told them. Or at least that was his intention until they walked in and his gaze immediately caught on where the two were united. He allowed himself a moment to tease them. "I see the two of you are getting along well enough," he began, already wondering who would be the first to catch it, "but we have bigger problems."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Tear asked worriedly.

"There's been an incident in the residential district. There's little doubt that this is the work of the Original Order."

"How can you be sure?" she replied, her curiosity piqued.

"Because it's been reported a great many number of replicas in the area have been collapsing and…disappearing."

Luke, meanwhile was torn between his attempts to process this new turn of events and the nagging feeling he'd been insulted. "Wait a minute…"

They both stopped to see what he had to say.

"**Bigger problems**?"

Jade rewarded his observation with an ambiguous smile. "Now's hardly the time to argue. Though Tear, I must say I'm a little disappointed."

Tear, for her concern over much more important matters, had no idea what either of them was talking about. "Do you know what's causing it?" she pressed.

Jade nodded. "It's probably the same sort of device that was used on Luke in Chesedonia, only on a much larger scale. For that reason alone, it's best if you sit this one out," he directed the latter sentence towards the young man.

In response, Luke's grip only tightened around Tear's hand. "But–"

"–You still haven't fully recovered from the last incident, and we can't be sure Tear will be able to stop you if you start another hyperresonance."

"Jade's right. Besides, these people are hardly the God-Generals – if they've actually shown themselves in the city, between us and the guard they won't stand much of a chance," Tear agreed while returning Luke's grip as though to assuage his concerns.

Jade, meanwhile, seemed lost in thought.

"What's wrong?"

"Hopefully nothing, but I'd like Natalia to stay here with you, all the same."

"What? Why? It's not like I'm going to head out after you guys anyway." Luke was serious, and confused. Not that he was the lynchpin of their team, but sacrificing even more manpower just to give him a babysitter was foolish, though not particularly insulting given his admittedly irrational behavior as of late.

"It isn't that," Jade assured him. "It just occurred to me that they are no doubt aware of our presence in the city, and would anticipate our going to shut down this device of theirs as well as our decision to leave you behind. It **would **be the perfect opportunity to attack you if that's their intention."

"Then why not–"

Jade cut Tear off, anticipating her question. "–Given the fon machine's affect on Seventh Fonons, I imagine we'll need your help in tracking the device down – not to mention that your knowledge of the city's layout would certainly come in handy."

---

Luke paced the room restlessly.

"You should have more faith in our friends."

"It isn't that!" he hastily replied. "There's just too much we don't know about the Original Order."

Natalia sighed. "They're preying on the people's fears of a life without the Score in order to build of a base of loyal followers, and their doctrine calls for the extermination of all replicas. Do you really need to know more than that?"

"But what do we really **know **about them? Who's in charge? Why have they only recently started stirring up trouble? More importantly," he continued, tangling his fingers in his hair, "where are they getting their hands on fon machines from the Dawn Age?"

"The Dawn Age?"

"Didn't Guy tell you?"

"No…"

"Don't worry about it; he was trying to keep it from Tear, so that's probably why."

"So what? Can't I keep a secret?"

"Can you?" Luke teased playfully.

"I'll ignore that." Natalia patted the space on the bed next to her. "Why don't you sit down? If we're going to be here a while, it wouldn't do to have you worrying the whole time. Besides, it's been a long time since we've had a talk, just the two of us."

Luke acquiesced, though several minutes passed before either of them spoke.

"So," Natalia said, breaking their silence, "how's the restoration project going?"

"Well enough. Now that they've set up a government, they're almost ready to stand on their own as an independent city-state. I don't think we'll have to stay there much longer."

"Will you come back to Baticul?"

"I'm not sure," he said, though he knew he had no intention of it.

"If I may say so, I hope you do. With Guy still attending his duties in Grand Chokmah, it would be nice to have someone to talk to."

"I'm not sure how much Tear would like it, though."

"Yes, that's true…"

"So, how are you two doing? I mean, is he going to move to the palace any time soon?"

Natalia rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh, that's doubtful, given how quickly he changes the topic whenever I bring it up."

"If you want, the next time I see him I'll give him one of his own patented 'stop acting like an idiot' punches," Luke smiled.

She blushed. "T-that's alright. If he puts it off much longer, I could easily have a little 'chat' with Emperor Peony."

"I don't know if **anyone **deserves what **he **might to do him."

The uncomfortable silence returned. It was something that he hadn't considered, and as a friend it bothered him. Anise had Florian back in Daath, Guy had Jade, and for what it was worth, Emperor Peony as friends in Grand Chokmah, Tear had been alone for some time, something he still hadn't quite forgiven himself for, but at least they were together now…Natalia, though, had spent the better part of the last three years by herself.

"Regardless of where I move, I intend to make good on my promise."

"What?"

"My promise, to change Kimlasca: so no one has to be poor, and there's no need for war. Not just Kimlasca, but for all of Auldrant, I'll do what I can."

"Luke… That was…Asch. You're not beholden–"

"–I promised, too. In Keterburg." Luke smiled. "Now **you're** the one who forgot."

Natalia folded her hands in her lap. "Thank you."

They both stopped as the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs echoed into the room. Natalia jumped to the floor, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow at a speed that would make a military-trained archer jealous. "Who are you?"

Luke quickly pressured his companion's arm so as to aim her weapon harmlessly at the floor. "Commander…Briggs, was it?"

For a moment, the Locrian intelligence officer seemed taken aback, but he quickly regained his composure. "Yes, well I suppose you **did **hear that, didn't you?"

"What do you want?" Luke asked, making no attempt to hide his animosity. Something about Briggs' attitude made him uncomfortable, and anger was his best way of dealing with it.

"I've already sent one of my subordinates to retrieve your friends – this whole thing was a setup. Yulia City was never the target, and this weapon of theirs had nothing to do with it. They're going to launch an attack on the Isle of Feres."

"We'll need to charter a ship to take us out there as quickly as possible!" Luke said to Natalia as he pulled her along past the Commander and down the stairs.

"Thickheaded…" Briggs muttered to himself. "I **have a ship**!" he called out after them.

---

"Miss Culmen!" Briggs called out to the young officer running towards them. She looked no older than Anise, though she admittedly filled out her uniform much better.

Her run broke into a fast walk, and when she caught up with them, she saluted her commanding officer and then hunched over to catch her breath.

"Culmen, where are the others?"

"S-sorry sir, they wouldn't leave before dismantling the Absonus Wave Generator." She took a deep breath and took proper posture. "I told them to meet up with us here, though, sir."

Briggs sighed. "That's alright. We still have to wait for them to finish loading up the ammunition for our cannons before we ship out. I'll go check on their progress. Keep an eye on our guests, and make sure they don't do anything stupid. Especially the redhead." The last comment was shouted over his shoulder as he was already headed down to their ship at the end of the dock.

Luke quickly drew his sword. "Fangs of hell, ri–"

"–Luke!"

Their new companion tittered. "Don't mind the stuffed shirt. Somewhere underneath that rigid exterior is a little kid just trying to look tough."

Luke burst out laughing. "I like you already…"

"Lieutenant Commander Culmen," she smiled. "But please, call me Serenæ, your lordship."

He laughed again. "No one has called me that in a long time. 'Luke' is fine."

"And feel free to call me Natalia. It seems none of us are much for formality," she smiled.

Serenæ's eyes widened. "Oh! You're Princess Natalia?"

"Yes, but like I said–"

"–You were here with Luke so I just naturally assumed you were his wife!"

Luke looked worried. "Wait, wasn't Tear with the others?"

"No, definitely not – at least not when I got there. There were only two men. I just assumed the Commander had rounded up everyone else…"

Luke had already taken off running the moment she'd said 'no.'

Natalia ran after him. "Luke, wait up!"

Serenæ petulantly stomped her foot. "Oh, the Commander's really going to let me have it this time," she lamented before giving chase.

Luke knew Tear could take care of herself, but recent experiences warned him that prior normalities could no longer safely form the basis of his judgment of a situation. What Jade had thought might have been a trap for **him **might well have been a trap for **them **instead. The extent of their enemy's machinations was still largely unknown. With such worries propelling him forward, Luke braced himself as he stepped through the gateway to the residential district. The moment he did, he could feel that same pulsing sensation he'd felt in the ruins. Still, whether it was that he wasn't caught unawares or that the device was far enough away, the fact was that he didn't go haywire like he had back then.

The surrounding area was a ghost town – perhaps they'd all been evacuated since the effects of the device were still wholly a mystery. It only took a quick scan to isolate the source of the pulling on what he had to assume were the Seventh Fonons composing his body. Taking a moment to compose himself and take a deep breath, he headed through the abandoned streets. He didn't have to go far.

"Luke? What are you doing here?" Anise shouted from a ways down a narrow road.

Tear, who was resting on the floor with her back up against a building near Anise, quickly stood up and used the building to support her at this outcry. Despite his own rapidly depleting stamina, he ran to her.

"What's wrong?"

"She won't let me help her!" Anise pouted.

"I'm…fine."

"Right after she led us to the fon machine, she collapsed."

"I just…need to get…away from it."

"And Jade told me to stay with her and make sure she got out alright."

Luke slid himself underneath Tear's free arm to help support her and moved her away from the building. "Go back and help the others. I'll get her out."

After an initial look of uncertainty, Anise nodded and headed back into the heart of the city.

"What are…you doing here?" Tear asked as they slowly made their way back to the entrance. "It's dangerous."

"I don't care about that – I got worried when I heard you weren't with the others."

"How did you…find out about…that?"

"Never mind, let's just focus on getting you out of here for now."

The two were soon assisted by Natalia and Serenæ. The group made their way back to the docks where they waited for the rest of their companions to return.

---

"So, I'm the one to blame for Luke's running into the residential district like that – I hadn't expected him to react so…rashly," Serenæ apologized.

"Miss Culmen! You forget your station!" Briggs barked.

"That's okay, I told her to call me Luke," he quickly stepped in.

"Very well." Briggs turned to Tear, who was still a little tired. "You must be Sergeant Grants. Your profile hardly does your beauty justice."

If glares could kill, everyone there, including Serenæ, would be wanted for murder. Except a certain Colonel who masked whatever his thoughts were on the comment with an unreadable smile.

Briggs made note of their reactions – Luke's in particular.

"I'm spoken for," Tear almost growled.

"Oh, no, I was merely making an observation!" he replied, making a play at innocence.

The obvious attempt to aggravate him aside, something else was bothering Luke. "Have we met before?"

"Yes, in the ruins outside Chesedonia," Briggs replied flatly. "I thought it was only the life of the original that a replica couldn't remember."

"Commander, don't you think that's going too far?" Serenæ asked in a low whisper.

"Too far in what? It's scientific fact," he replied loudly, purposely disregarding his subordinate's prudence. "But enough of this pointless blather. The fact is that we've uncovered a plot to attack Feres. It's my suspicion that they will attempt to destroy the core keeping the island afloat. Moreover, under the cover of the chaos caused by this incident, they managed to steal several military ships from the harbor." Taking on an air of martyrdom, he continued. "I'll draw the attention of those ships while the six of you work your way to the core and stop them from killing everyone on the island."

* * *

Hmm...my eyes are all bleedy from staring at MS Word for way too many hours. I should probably have that checked out. In the meantime, I'm woefully behind on sleep, so I'm gunna take care of that. Also, I'm not going to say anything that might spoil future verses, but if you sensed **something **in one scene in particular, you're right and it will come up again later, though **how **is something I haven't quite decided yet. I'm so cryptic, I feel like Jade! Soooo… oh yeah, I've been meaning to mention this but keep forgetting: REVIEWS are WELCOME. Big thanks to everyone who has posted reviews thus far, because whether you love it or hate it, it's **your **opinion that matters, not mine! 


	8. Iuris Perditum

Finally! Some answers! This picks up where Verse 5 left off. 'Ridiculously awesome scene' postponed for a long time thanks to a plot twist in Verse 9 (Yes, there is a plan, there is a God, and the spaceship is **coming**!). Things are getting shorter again, though this may be a product of my having written this in the span of 24 Red Bull and Bawls fueled hours. Advance warning: I can't shake the feeling I'm about to make a lot of people hate me (temporarily, I assure you), so while I have no idea what this means, just keep it in mind. Oh, and, as always, Tales of the Abyss and all characters pertaining thereto are the exclusive property of powerful people with teams of lawyers that could easily crush me like the insignificant worm that I am. So, here's Verse 8, now with ancient Latin-flavored titles! (spiffy!)

* * *

Verse 8: Iuris Perditum

His eyes opened wide as though he'd been woken up with a bucket of cold water. He instantly regretted this as the light flooded in leaving him completely disoriented. Vaguely, he could make out the shapes of people gathered around him.

"Hey, he's awake," one of the voices announced. He recognized it as belonging to Guy.

Another figure approached, this one loomed over him and slapped his face. Hard. It did little to aid his blurred vision, but left no doubt as to who it was. Tear receded to another part of the room without a word, while everyone else shared a laugh at his expense.

All at once, memories of the battle came flooding back. He was fighting that guardian beast while the others ran on ahead, but…Tear was there. She'd stayed with him. He was trying to protect her, but…no, he did – he killed it using hyperresonance. As clarity began to return, Luke sat upright, and immediately clutched his head from the self-inflicted headache. _**That **__was stupid. _"What happened? What about Feres? Did we save it?"

"Yes, everything turned out just fine," Natalia answered, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Wait…" something else bothered him. He couldn't wrap his head around it. "I'm alive?"

Tear shift vexedly, drawing his attention. She had her back to him.

"Why wouldn't you be?" Jade asked as though it were a line in a well-rehearsed script.

Luke recognized the room now – he was back in that same hospital room in Keterburg. "Because…I used hyperresonance. It should've killed me." He paused. "Shouldn't it?"

"Guy, you can take this one," Jade said slyly.

"I would, but I don't know the answer to that myself."

"I was afraid of that. Very well," Jade sighed. "It's true that your ability to recover from using hyperresonance has been stunted by the lack of Seventh Fonons being generated. It was only thanks to the Original Order killing as many replicas as they had that enough Seventh Fonons were available to aid your recovery," Jade paused to adjust his glasses. "Of course, you might still have died on the spot if someone else hadn't been there to keep you alive."

Luke hesitantly looked back at Tear, who was still facing the door. A moment later, as though she sensed his gaze, she heaved a sigh and walked out, slamming the door behind her. He let himself fall back and hit the pillow.

"Come on, everyone, let's leave him to his rest," Jade commanded.

Luke closed his eyes and listened as they all shuffled out, waiting for the sound of the door shutting before he relaxed.

_She saved me again. How many times is that now?_

_Four, _a voice within him answered.

_That's right, I wouldn't have come out of Eldrant alive if she hadn't given me the will to live. _Luke let his hand drift up to his face, where he could still feel the sting of her slap. The bruise felt...angry._ I'm hurting her... She wouldn't be going through all this if I hadn't come back… Was that what she'd wanted to say back in Yulia City? _Such thoughts came unbidden and attacked him relentlessly until he found some semblance of peace in slumber.

---

"What was **that **all about?"

Tear looked over in surprise. She'd been so busy drowning in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed her friend sit down next to her. "Oh, Guy…" After taking a moment to let his question register, she replied "Nothing."

"'Nothing,' huh? That slap was awfully hard for 'nothing.'"

She leaned back on the snow-covered bench and looked up at the sky before closing her eyes. "It's just… Suffice to say he betrayed me, alright?" She forced her explanation out at a speed that left Guy mulling the words over in his head to make sure he'd heard them correctly.

"He was cheating on you? When would he have had the time?"

"Guy…"

He continued over her. "I suppose he's famous enough; women were probably throwing themselves at him when he came back to Baticul – he could've found someone then…"

"Guy."

"But that means he would've been in the relationship even when the two of you got married! And when he moved to Feres with you, he probably had to pay for her to move there too."

"Guy! Don't joke about things like that! Luke would never cheat on me."

"Of course he wouldn't," he said with a smile. "Luke is crazy about you. He'd never **intentionally **do anything to hurt you, so try to go easy on him." Guy stood up. "Sure he's a little slow," he chided, not at all hesitant to talk about his friend behind his back, "he's only ten, after all. But he's not stupid. Just be open about what's bothering you and I'm sure he'll understand."

Tear stood to watch her friend head back towards the lab. "Thanks, Guy." She then sank back down into the bench in the park. _Be open with him… I suppose that means __**I'm**__ betraying me, too. But if I don't, if I let myself, then…_

---

"If I didn't know any better," Briggs posed to the bespectacled man opposite him, his chin resting on his wrist while fingers tapped along his moustache, "I'd think they dropped off the face of Auldrant."

"Yes, and I'm beginning to think that if the ones we captured knew anything, they would've talked by now," Jade added, pointing out another dead end in their investigation.

"Then shouldn't you be out looking for them?" Anise frowned at the Commander, having developed a distaste for him since their first encounter back in Yulia City.

"Miss Culmen may not look it, but she is a capable intelligence officer. Besides, regardless of my desire to resume my duties, I'm rather stranded here until she returns with our ship," he explained with a begrudging nod of respect to the young Fon Master.

"We haven't had much of an opportunity to talk, and my own investigations in Yulia City were cut short by the incident there, so I was hoping you might indulge some questions," Jade said, explaining why he had requested the Commander's presence.

"And I suppose if I choose not to," he replied, looking to Anise again, "**you'll **order me to?" To which Anise nodded with a smug sense of triumph. "Very well, ask away."

"What do you know about the Original Order?"

Briggs leaned back in his chair. "Little more than you, I'm afraid."

"Do you know who's in charge?"

"No. At one time, we believed it to be a certain high-ranking member of the Reformed Order, a Dentin Vistelise. But it's far more likely that he's simply someone else's pawn, as he lacks the…training…to organize movements and attacks on such a large scale."

"I trust he was the reason for your initial involvement – am I correct in assuming that he stole Dawn Age fontech for the Original Order?"

"That's correct."

"That sphere we found in the ruins, and the larger device in Yulia City, do you know what they were?"

"Absonus Wave Generators. Historical texts indicate that they were weapons designed by the enemies of Yulia to use against her. They work by destabilizing concentrated sources of Seventh Fonons." He slid into an all-out slouch at this, altogether uninterested but explaining the mundane details nonetheless. "For Seventh Fonists, this will simply weaken them, as well as effectively disable the use of their powers. You've seen firsthand the effect it has on replicas, and of course the special case that is Luke fon Fabre's replica." Briggs worded that last bit specifically to get a reaction.

The response was a flinch. He'd expected at least as much of Anise, but to elicit one from the otherwise stone-faced Colonel came as a shock. _So, even the Necromancer has a weakness or two._

"How was he able to smuggle such a large device out from under your noses?" Jade asked with a notable twinge of irritation in his voice.

"I only wish I knew. Frankly, he's not smart enough to pull it off himself – again indicating that someone else is pulling his strings.

"I would think that would be one of the first subjects of investigation – the hole in your security, that is."

Briggs frowned. "Once we uncovered Dentin's involvement, questioning how fell to the wayside of the where's and why's."

"Still…" Jade pressed.

"I grow weary of this **interrogation**. May I ask why you're even involved in this? And don't give me politics."

"If you're dismissing politics straightaway, then I surmise you know the answer yourself."

"Still…" Briggs replied with a sardonic grin.

Jade wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "Regardless of politics, I'm a soldier, and I'm under direct orders from Emperor Peony to put an end to this movement."

"And the fact alone that they're calling themselves the 'Original Order' steps on my authority as Fon Master," Anise said, following Jade's lead.

"Well," the Commander stood, dusting his hands, "if you're done asking questions, I have personal matters to attend to."

Jade nodded, and the two watched as Briggs stepped between them and headed through the door.

"He's definitely hiding something, don't you think?"

"If it's obvious to **you**…" Jade replied.

---

Luke managed to find the energy to get out of bed. Shu had already visited to admonish the young man for his recklessness as well as detach him from the various machines monitoring his health. He knew that it wasn't for want of rest that he felt so depleted.

What could he do to make things right? Could he even? No, Tear loved him – there was no way she wouldn't have wanted him to come back. Then again, maybe that's why it was so hard for her to say something. His mind was running a marathon in circles.

He placed his hand on the frozen window, letting it slowly numb him. Even this wouldn't distract him as his thoughts returned to that night in Yulia City. _If Master Van hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't have met…but we wouldn't know what we were missing, either. I suppose I wouldn't have even been created. If it would spare her from all this… I guess if I could change things, I would._

A knock at his door.

"Come in." He didn't turn to face his guest, just watched in morbid fascination as his fingers slowly paled in contrast to his arm.

The footsteps stopped directly behind him, and after a moment a familiar gloved hand reached out to pull his own away from the glass. "You're actively trying to hurt yourself now?" Natalia asked sadly.

"You'd be better off, too," Luke said cryptically.

"What?"

"Anise and Ion…" He turned to face the young princess. "Would everyone have been better off if Master Van had never started his whole plan for creating a replica world?"

She looked into his eyes to tell if he was serious. After getting her answer, she moved to his bed and sat down on the edge. "Do you really expect me to have an answer?"

Luke turned back to the window. "I guess not."

"Who knows what might've happened. Just as it isn't within our power to change the past, neither is it our place to judge the outcome of what would happen if we could." She sighed with concern. "If you go down that road, you'll wind up doing a lot worse than giving yourself a little frostbite."

"If I'm going down that road," Luke played on the metaphor, "it's only to catch up." He put his hand back on the window, prompting Natalia to approach him again.

This time, she merely placed her hand atop his. "I don't know what's bothering her, but whatever it is, rest assured it isn't **that**."

"How can you be sure? I mean–"

"–Luke, if I hadn't come back to check up on you… Tear had cast so many healing spells on you she actually passed out."

He forced a half-hearted smile. Maybe the reason she was upset really was that simple. Maybe what was bothering her in Yulia City really wasn't anything important. It did still leave the matter of apologizing. "I know I don't do anything but make her worry lately, and I don't think saying 'I'm sorry' is going to cut it anymore. I guess I shouldn't be surprised if it's started to sound a little hollow."

Natalia gave a look of compassion to her erstwhile fiancé.

_What am I doing? _he cursed at himself. "I'm sorry – I shouldn't be dumping my problems on you like this. I've got to make things right on my own."

Natalia stepped back and watched her friend leave the room before clutching her hand to her chest. _Luke..._

---

"You're Colonel Curtis, right?"

"Yes, and you're…Serenæ?"

"Right!" she smiled cheerfully, then huffed. "I'm so glad I found **someone**! I couldn't find the Commander anywhere!"

"I believe he said something about having personal matters to attend to."

"Strange…I don't think he knows anyone in Keterburg. But as a spymaster, I suppose he has connections everywhere. Anyway, we finished combing over the tunnels beneath Feres."

"Did you find anything of note?"

The young girl shook her head remorsefully. "That's why we came back ahead of time – we didn't even find anything worth taking the time to analyze."

"I guess that means we'll be falling back on **that** already," he said to himself.

"Falling back on what?"

"Nothing important, just a hunch I have."

She shrugged it off. "But yeah, I have important news!"

"Oh?"

"The government of Feres has begun developing an army to prevent further attacks, but we got a report from Yulia City that Original Order propaganda has already started spreading rumors that the replicas are planning to use the army to attack other countries!"

"They wouldn't have had the time to ascertain knowledge of the army and spread word so quickly…either it's a lucky coincidence for them, or they anticipated this from the start." Jade's nose wrinkled in frustration. "We're being played."

Serenæ suddenly felt very uncomfortable, unsure of how to respond. His face was as expressionless as ever, but it was easy enough to tell he was angry. "Well…I'm going to go look for Commander Briggs."

"If he **is **meeting with a contact, you might try the bar on the second floor of the hotel," Jade offered.

"Thanks!" The young officer took off running in that direction.

"I don't exactly relish the idea of going back there," Guy said as he came from his hiding spot around the corner.

Jade smiled. "You've been spending too much time around me."

"Not really. It's just that it's where all the pieces seem to lead."

---

The setting sun directly in his line of vision, he could barely make out Tear's silhouette against it. She easily recognized the footsteps approaching behind her, though. Without a second thought, she stood and began walking away.

"Tear, wait."

She stopped, Guy's words resounding in her mind. A much greater fear, one that terrified her more than anything else, warned her to run, but Tear managed control of the urge. "Did Guy tell you I was here?"

"N-no," Luke stuttered, surprised by the harshness of her voice, "I just kinda had a feeling I'd find you here."

"You should go back to the lab and rest. You never know when the next opportunity to do so will come." There was a measure of consideration in her voice now, though the message clearly told him he wasn't wanted there.

He chose to ignore it. "Tear…" Luke moved to circle around and face her, but she turned away. He didn't bother trying again. "I'm sorry. I know I keep making you worry about me, but–"

Tear finally faced him, but he almost wished she hadn't. "–Is that what you think I'm upset about?" she fumed.

"Isn't it?" He at least knew in advance that this was a mistake, but didn't know what else to say.

"Just…leave."

He didn't argue, just walking past her, back the way he came. She listened as Luke headed towards the lab. For a moment, he stopped, perhaps to protest, but if that were so, it went unvoiced as he soon continued on his way.

A shiver broke her rigid stance. _It's cold, _she convinced herself. Heading back to sit and brood on her bench, she noticed something that wasn't there before. Draped over the back…was Luke's coat. This was all it took for Tear to fall to her knees as the sobs wracked her body.

* * *

Cheese-and-crackers, I feel like I just passed a stone. That was **way** too much writing for one day. Whereas yesterday my eyes were bleeding, now I have friction burns on my fingertips and I think I'm developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Nevertheless a worthy use of my day off from work if I do say so myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to roll over and die. 

Yes, Tear is **very **out of character at the end there, but she's been obsessing over some very serious concerns that will surface later. I'm going to try to flesh out my OC's a bit more so they're not such…dei ex machinis. I hope the interrogation scene (aside from spoon-feeding you information) served to give a lot of insight into Brigg's character. Maybe I'll bring Dist in as a tertiary character as well, since he is a fon machine/fomicry expert, plus he'll be good for comic relief so things don't get so angst-y like they just did. Clearly, I have some loose ends to tie up as well – please note that this is by far the most inconclusive conclusion I've ever written, so those of you who feel tortured take solace in the fact that it absolutely, positively, definitely will never happen ever again (probably).


	9. Trennungangst

I lied. Again. This one has "angst" right in the title. Why German? There's actually logic behind it – two reasons to be precise: (1) because German is the language of psychology and this is a psychological term and (2) because two years and a thousand dollars later I've yet to justify having learned German at all.

A note about Verse 8 – it occurred to me later that the word 'park' was rather ambiguous in describing where I meant. To clarify, Tear was in the same park where Luke found her before they first headed to the Absorption Gate. This is why it's significant that Luke "had a feeling he'd find her there."

Surgeon General's Warning: Verse 9 may result in upset stomachs, third-degree burns, back aches, heart breaks, bad credit, no credit, no problem, divorce, bankruptcy and repossessions. In rare but severe cases Verse 9 has been know to cause aneurysms, blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, and spontaneous combustion. Do not take Verse 9 if you are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Do not sue me because I do not own the rights to Tales of the Abyss or any connected characters. Please consult your local physician if you experience any of these symptoms. If symptoms persist, please stop taking Verse 9 immediately, go pick up a copy of Tales of the Abyss and play it.

* * *

Verse 9 - Trennungangst

It was dark. That was the first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes. He couldn't see a thing. He didn't feel tired. He certainly couldn't remember falling asleep. The fact that he was warm was something of a concern. Not uncomfortably warm, but warmer than one could expect to be anywhere in Keterburg. Blinking several times, light did not come any easier to him. It wasn't night, not that he could tell, and for all he knew it may well have been, but the room simply had no windows.

Faintly, he could hear the whir of machines through the wall nearest his bed. Either the wall was extraordinarily thick or the source was far away, but from the sound of things, it was some sort of factory.

Groggily, he sat upright, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and carefully extended his feet to find the floor. Only upon contacting the cold surface did he realize he'd been stripped nearly naked. Apart from his undergarments, he found only one other article, one that clasped tightly around his ankle with a chain that in turn connected to the bed. Never one to miss the obvious, he realized that he was, in fact, a prisoner.

With naught else to do, he sat and waited for his eyes to finally adjust to the tiny strip of light that seeped in underneath what he assumed was a door. As they did, he noticed what little other features were present in his cell: a toilet, a sink, and a strange metallic rectangle embedded in the wall near the same door.

Occasionally someone would walk by. It seemed at regular enough intervals that it was safe to assume that he, she, or they were guards patrolling the corridor outside. He was hungry, but was not about to call out to them and beg for food. Mostly it was a matter of stubborn pride, though the thought that they might start torturing him once they found him to be awake had crossed his mind. Hunger was the safer choice. Soon enough, he heard the squeak of a hinge, and the metallic rectangle seemed to move a bit. After cautious inspection, he found it was a small, upwards-opening door, and that in the compartment behind it was a tray of fresh food. Though he was not unaware that they might be poisoning him, he knew enough that he wouldn't last long if he got **that **paranoid **that **quickly.

Halfway through his meal, he heard noises coming directly from the door. Locks, presumably. Then the door swung open wide, and the light that poured in blinded him temporarily.

"I'm glad to see you're awake." The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it. He'd have to wait till he could see.

"Where am I?" He decided to start simple.

"For now, just know that you're well-protected from prying eyes. Know that holding out hope for a rescue would be an exercise in futility."

"What do you want with me?" It was starting to feel like something out of a cheesy novel.

"Why does anyone take a prisoner? We intend to make use of you, of course."

"How? What use am I?"

The man laughed. He hadn't heard him laugh before, but strangely it was this that placed the voice. "The hero of Auldrant has many possible uses. We'll get to that when the time comes."

"Dentin Vistelise?"

Silence responded. Still, he could see well enough now to be fairly certain of his assessment.

"If you kill me, you'll turn me into a martyr. Many others will rise to take my place."

"Do not lecture me on tactics, replica. If you're so concerned, then rest assured that it is your life we want to make use of, not your death. At least, for the time being."

Someone else entered and whispered a message to Dentin.

"Damn that Crocell! Does his treachery know no bounds?" Dentin turned his attention back to him. "Rest well. You'll need it." The slamming door echoed in his ears.

Dentin's comment to the other man sounded important. Food for thought, since there wasn't much else to do.

---

Tear paced the room, spurning any attempt to comfort her.

"I'm sure he's fine – he probably just wanted some time to think by himself and forgot to leave a note. He's not the brightest fon lantern in the crate," Anise offered.

"The Commander is missing as well," Jade observed. "Perhaps the two are engaged in a duel for your honor?"

Guy returned to the lobby, a burst of snow accompanying him before he could shut the door. This derailed any angry response she could hope to come up with for Jade's comment. "It doesn't look good. He didn't go back to the lab, but all his equipment is still there…"

"It seems likely, then, that he was kidnapped. And if he was taken by the Original Order, then he's probably–"

"–Don't you dare say it! Don't even **think** it!" Tear snapped.

"Now is **hardly **the time, Jade!" Natalia agreed, both women speaking with enough force to cow even the Colonel.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"We should start looking," Tear said, not even bothering to accept his apology.

Not letting reason give way to emotions, Jade countered "This storm suggests otherwise."

"But–"

"–I'm sorry, but I've gotta go with Jade on this one," Guy agreed, though he was none too pleased to do so. "The chances of finding anything out there are next to nothing the way the snow is coming in. Besides, we wouldn't even know where to start looking."

"We'll wait it out for now," Jade added in a surprisingly consolatory tone of voice, "and take up the search at the first possible opportunity."

Tear took a deep breath. Somewhere, in the battle-hardened, military-trained part of her mind, she knew they were right. Getting hysterical and rushing out blindly wouldn't help Luke at all – calmer minds would win the day.

The doors burst open once again, startling the young swordsman who still stood nearby. Two weather-weary soldiers walked through the portal, the younger of which was left to the task of forcing it shut. Guy stepped in to help her, while Commander Briggs came further into the lobby and lowered the hood of his cloak.

"I apologize for my disappearance. A contact of mine **thought **he knew the whereabouts of an Original Order hideout," he spat angrily. "Needless to say I fought this icy hellstorm for nothing."

Serenæ muttered so that only Guy could hear, "He says that like he was the only one."

"Miss Culmen."

She quickly entered the lobby proper and lowered her hood as well. "Yes, Commander?"

"Do you have something to share?" he asked patronizingly, more like a schoolmaster than a superior officer.

"Not a thing, sir, why?"

"Never mind, then," he huffed, then handed her a key. "Head up to my room and draw me a warm bath. After that, you're free to do as you please."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" she replied enthusiastically with just a touch of sarcasm, and then disappeared into the elevator.

Briggs slowly scanned the room. "The redhead sleeping in or something?"

Tear, whose nerves were frayed enough already, decided it would be best to ignore him and leave his presence as quickly as possible. Natalia followed suit.

"Was it something I said?"

"We have reason to believe Luke might have been captured by the enemy," Jade explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that. The moment this storm clears up I will devote the crew of my ship to the search, I can assure you."

"**That's **surprising," Anise muttered.

"What's so surprising? A replica of his status could easily be used to rally Feres to war, and they'd be playing right into the Original Order's hands."

"Figures," Guy complained as he slumped into a chair.

Anise glanced uneasily at the door.

"Guy, escort Anise to the port."

"Sure, but why?"

"That **is **where you're headed, isn't it?"

"…Yeah," Anise replied, not at all bothered by Jade's ability to read her, as a much greater concern weighed on her mind.

"If the Fon Master needs an escort, I'd be happy to provide it."

"I wouldn't want you to miss your bath," she replied venomously.

---

If nothing else, he had another name: Crocell. From the sound of things, he wasn't a direct subordinate of Dentin's, and he spoke with far too much animosity for Crocell to be a superior. The most likely answer was that they were colleagues. Colleagues who apparently hated each other. Luke would have to remember to mention the name to Briggs when he saw him, though spending any amount of time with the man usually required great restraint on Luke's part to not simply bludgeon the spymaster with the pommel of his sword.

The footsteps of the guard jarred him from his thoughts. The sound stopped near his door, and soon he could make out the sound of lighter footsteps approaching, followed by a muffled conversation. The chain stopped short of his reaching the door, but Luke found that he could just reach his ear to the door if he lay down.

"I'm not leaving – it wasn't easy sneaking down here to see you!" This voice was almost certainly that of a woman.

"You'll see me easily enough if Sir Vistelise catches you. He'll have you thrown in one of these cells! Oriana, I–"

"Vosner! Is that you I hear? Are you talking to the prisoners again?" A booming voice called out from the distance. It wasn't Dentin, whoever it was. Luke could hear the guard rifling through his keys. He stood up and out of the way just as the door swung open.

"Stay in this corner, Oriana, and stay quiet. He can't reach you there." The guard gave Luke a stern, if pleading, look before shutting the door.

No longer able to press his ear to the door, he could only hear a muted exchange taking place. Quickly bored, he moved back to the bed and sat down. The woman, probably not having adjusted to the darkness quite yet, was terrified and jumped at every sound he made. Luke sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered, "so relax."

_He sounds like he's just a kid… _"What are you…'in' for?" she asked, hesitant and yet curious of the answer.

"I'm a replica."

She couldn't believe it. "Is that all?"

"Do they need more of a reason than that? It's only because I have status – a name with power – that they didn't just kill me outright."

"The Original Order wouldn't do something like that!" she whispered in hushed indignation. "They just want to help people by restoring the word of Yulia!"

He shrugged his shoulders, not that she could see. "Believe whatever you want. Doesn't change that I'm in here or the reasons why."

"You probably just don't want to admit stepping on someone's toes. That's your problem, you replicas, you're so belligerent you actually attacked the ships they sent to help you when someone tried to sink the Isle of Feres."

He lay back on the bed, suppressing the urge to rush over and throttle some sense into the woman. He reasoned he would probably only end up justifying her beliefs if he did. "Is that what they're saying? Who do you think tried to sabotage the core? And those ships weren't sent to help; they were sent to sink any boats trying to escape. I was there."

"You're lying."

"What would I have to gain by lying to you? Who are **you**?"

"You're…serious, aren't you?" she asked, stepping away from the corner.

Before Luke could answer, the door opened quietly, and the guard stepped in. "I'm so sorry, but I couldn't very well let you be caught. Now come on, I need to get you out of here before someone else comes along."

And with that, the two left, making sure to lock the door behind them. It was nice to have some conversation. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but given that he was starting to get tired, he figured it had been nearly a full day since he woke up. With little reason to do otherwise, he let himself drift off.

---

"Going somewhere?"

Tear cursed her luck. _Doesn't he have anything better to do? _Calmer minds be damned, she couldn't stand waiting around doing nothing while they were doing who knows what to Luke. "Even if I can't find him, I might be able to find some clues or something. Time waiting for the storm to pass is time wasted."

Jade stood from his chair near the fireplace. "Then at least let me accompany you."

"No, I'll be fine. Keep Natalia company." She didn't necessarily want to turn down his assistance, and she definitely didn't want to be so rude about it, but Tear knew she wouldn't be able to stand it if he started up with his 'logical conclusions' again.

"Alright then," he replied, shifting his glasses. If he took offense, he certainly didn't show any signs of it. Just as Tear was out the door, she heard him call after her, "Be careful!"

_Maybe I __**was**__ too harsh._

"No sense getting killed over someone who's already–"

She slammed the door shut behind her. _Definitely not. _Though in a weird way, his unwavering predictability **had **managed to get her to smile, if only inwardly. The snow, which had already begun its assault on her, prevented any facial expressions beyond a permanent wince. Having borrowed Serenæ's cloak, she pulled up the hood and headed out into the storm.

Tear had to do this. After all, **she **was the only one who knew where Luke was last seen. Guilt had stopped her from mentioning this to the others, about their sunset encounter in the park. Guilt about how she had treated him. Truly, what she had been afraid of, what had troubled her so greatly long before he first tried to pry it out of her in Yulia City that night, it paled in comparison to this.

She started working her way in ever-increasing circles outwards from the park. _It was sunset and freezing. The storm came in a few hours later anyway. No one would've been outside in this weather __**in the dark**__. Even if they had, what could they have possibly seen?_ No, she couldn't let herself start doubting already. It the sun was near setting, so anyone she did bump into might have been outside the night before as well.

People were pouring in and out of the casino, even at that hour, and especially considering the storm. Though the traffic was such probably because the storm prohibited nearly anything else that could be done in the town. She made her way there.

"Welcome." A gruff greeting from the heavily robed guard standing just outside.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for a young man, red hair, green eyes, about this tall," she explained quickly, gesturing Luke's height.

"Sorry, haven't seen anyone like that. He missing or something?"

"Or something."

"I'd check with the captain of the guard. If the town guardsmen see anything strange, even if it isn't criminal, they're supposed to make a report on it at the end of their shift."

"Where would I find him?"

"This hour? Assuming the routes haven't changed since I was a guardsman, I'd imagine he's at the southern gate."

It should've been obvious to check with the town guard first, but it just hadn't even crossed her mind. Finding the captain was easy enough, and after explaining her situation, he led her to their barracks to go over the reports from the night prior.

"I remember…something that might've…" he mumbled to himself as he thumbed through the pages of one officer's report before tossing it aside.

"I don't have any leads, so **anything **out of the ordinary could prove helpful." Tear paced restlessly, rubbing her arms in an attempt to find some warmth before she headed back out.

"Here – one of my men said he saw a group of armed men headed out of town, one of them carrying a drunk on his back. When he asked them, they said they were his bodyguards and were taking him to the port to catch a ship."

Tear shook her head. "He wouldn't have been drunk. Wait, do you think that man might've been drugged?"

"I'm not a psychic, ma'am. I suppose my boys wouldn't be able to spot the difference, though."

Tear thanked him and took off running.

"But…" the captain sighed, "there might be something else." She was long gone, though, so he resigned himself to sift through the reports and pull out anything noteworthy in case she returned.

---

"It looks like the worst of the storm is over Keterburg," Guy noted as the howling winds and blasts of snow diminished on the way to Keterburg Bay.

"Yeah."

Of course they were friends, but it was rare for the two of them to spend time alone together. The age difference might've played a role, but Guy still felt ashamed to fall back on the more generic conversation starters so quickly.

"So, how are things with Florian?" he asked, unable to stand the uncomfortable silence any longer.

"Good enough, I guess. He still has problems trusting people, but can you really blame him?"

Guy shook his head in response. "He does trust **you**, though."

"Not enough to listen to me – this is exactly why I didn't want him following in Luke's footsteps."

"Seems like you could stand being a little more trusting yourself."

"What?" Anise practically shouted, unsure what he meant, but nonetheless positive she'd been insulted.

"You've charged your subordinates with his protection, haven't you?"

"I know, and I hand-picked them, so I don't think any one of them might be with the Original Order, but I'm still worried."

"And that's why you're going to Daath?"

"I won't let it happen a third time…" Anise responded in near-whisper.

Guy couldn't find anything to say. In lieu of words, he just placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"He's fine, I'm sure," she added, hoping somehow hearing the words would make them true.

The rest of the journey to the port was uneventful. Neither one of them wanted to start another conversation. Upon arrival, the pair headed straight for the docks so Anise could buy passage on the soonest ship to Daath.

"I'm sorry, young lady," the kindly old man in the ticket booth explained, "there just aren't any ships headed to Daath today.

"Well, what about commission ships?"

"Our last one was hired out early this morning. If you don't mind waiting, we're expecting one in first thing tomorrow. It might take a while to resupply, but if you have the money, they can leave as soon as they're done."

"Money's not–"

"–Wait a minute," Guy interrupted, "you said a ship was hired out this morning? By who?"

"Military types, from the looks of them."

Guy and Anise exchanged looks. "Do you think it was Luke?" Anise asked.

"Was there someone with them, light red hair, about my height?"

"Oh, yeah, there was, actually. Didn't catch a name though; the guy was sound asleep. Not that surprising given the hour, really."

"Where were they headed?" Guy practically demanded.

The man sifted a few pages back in his logbook. "Chesedonia, why?"

"I might've known," Guy muttered.

"Guy," Anise frowned, "get back to Keterburg and tell everyone."

"What about you?"

"I'm sorry; I…have to go to Daath."

"That's alright – I understand."

Guy left the port, making haste for the city proper, praying he wouldn't run into any monsters or bandits along the way.

---

"It looks like the storm is finally starting to die down!" Serenæ remarked cheerfully.

"Indeed," Jade replied, taking only a brief moment from the book he was reading to look out the window.

The bell echoed in the nearly-empty lobby of the hotel, and Serenæ watched with disdain as her C.O. emerged from the elevator with Natalia, talking quietly. For her part, Natalia was visibly uncomfortable with her company, but this was beyond the notice of the young lieutenant commander. Just as she was about to head over, Jade stopped her.

In a sing-song voice just loud enough for her to hear, he informed her "that's exactly what he **wants** you to do."

She looked over in shock, blushing, but Jade had already returned to his book.

"Oh? Miss Culmen, I didn't expect to find you down here."

"With the storm being what it was, if she wasn't in the bar with you, that leaves either her room…or here," Jade pointed out, never taking his eyes off the page in front of him, but clearly reveling in busting the commander's chops.

"Right, well…I suppose I hadn't thought of that."

"Really? I would've expected more from the Order's top intelligence officer."

Briggs' face twitched ever so slightly. "Well…" He cleared his throat. "Miss Culmen; now that the storm is clearing up, prepare a report and send it to headquarters by carrier pigeon."

"Yes sir," she replied shakily, barely able to contain her laughter.

"Take it from me," Jade began once the elevator doors had closed behind Serenæ, "they'll only put up with it for so long."

"I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about," Briggs fired back, still irritated by their earlier repartee. "Even if I did, I fail to see how my personal affairs are any concern of yours."

"Then by all means, feel free to ignore me. Consider me just an old man prattling on about things he's learned from his experiences." He emphasized the latter half of the sentence for effect.

"What ever are the two of you talking about?"

"If it's no business of his, what makes you think it's any of yours?" Briggs almost shouted in exasperation. Then his eyes opened wide as realization set in.

Jade hid his smile behind his book.

"I apologize, Your Highness! I forgot my place and spoke out of turn!" he said almost too quickly for her to understand.

"That's quite alright. And please, for as long as we're traveling together, there's no need to think of me as a princess."

"I could never do such a thing!" Briggs insisted.

Natalia sighed. "I'd really rather you would."

"Very well, if it's what Your Highness wishes."

She was about to protest again when Guy burst in through the door.

"We found Luke!" he shouted over upon seeing them in the sitting area.

"Goodness, where?" Natalia replied excitedly.

"Well we – wait, where's Tear?"

"Out looking for him," Jade answered.

"Damn it. We have to find her – Luke's not in Keterburg at all."

"What? Where is he?" Natalia asked, thoroughly confused.

"He was taken on a ship that was headed for Chesedonia."

Jade stood up, pocketing his book. "Well that's good, since we were headed there anyway."

"How did you…" Briggs was about to ask Guy a question, then turned to Jade. "Wait, why were you headed to Chesedonia anyway?"

"To quote my young associate here," Jade answered, gesturing to Guy, "'it's where all the pieces seem to lead.'" He turned back to the two blonds. "Why don't the two of you try to find Tear? We'll have to wait until tomorrow to leave, anyway. I'm sure if the last ships haven't already left by now, they will have by the time we get to the bay."

"We could use **your **ship!" Natalia exclaimed, referring to Briggs.

"For the time being, we must wait here until our orders arrive. However, let it never be said that Reynard Briggs is without understanding: I'll loan you the use of my ship, at least until we can make our way to Chesedonia ourselves."

"Well then, I guess we owe you one, Commander. Guy, Natalia, let's gather our things and meet down here."

"And I'll prepare an official statement for you to present to the ship's captain," Briggs said, following the group to the elevator.

"That reminds me," Jade continued, "if we can't find Tear quickly, we'll just have to leave a note for her."

---

_Alright, so they said they were bringing him to the port – they could've been lying… No, if they left the city through the southern gate, there isn't anywhere to go __**but **__Keterburg Bay. Do they have a safehouse there, or did they actually get on a boat? If they used a military boat, there won't be any record of where they're headed. No, even still it would be too conspicuous. Where's the funnel point…where would they __**have **__to go?_

Tear ran the scenarios through her mind a thousand times along the way. The sun, what little there was to see of it through the clouds, had already started to blur with the fields of snow in the west, but at least the storm seemed to die down the closer she got to the bay.

_They'd need to buy tickets to get on a ship. No, sneaking on would be better if they don't want us following them. But if they got caught… And sneaking Luke on board in his condition wouldn't be easy._

She ran in through the gate, stopping briefly to catch her breath and get her bearings.

_The ticket booth first. If they haven't seen anything, then I'll ask around. Someone will had to have seen him being carried around, whether they snuck on a boat or they're hiding around here somewhere._

"Excuse me, I need to ask you: there was a man who was supposedly brought down here unconscious by a bunch of armed guards, red hair–"

"–Yes, I saw the lad; he certainly does seem popular enough."

"You saw him?" Tear's eyes lit up. "Where?"

"His guards commissioned a ship and they headed to Chesedonia."

"When's the next ship out there?"

"Well, miss, the last ship is leaving in just a few minutes, but she's full up."

"Where is it?"

"Pier twenty-three, but there aren't any tickets!" he called out after her, but Tear didn't care. She'd get on the boat, no problem. It wasn't seeing him safe with her own eyes, or even seeing him at all, but just that the ticket salesman had seen Luke filled her with hope. If they wanted to kill him, they would've done so in the wilderness, right? If they brought him on a boat, he **had** to be alive, right?

Later, after the ship had departed, some passengers found a guard fast asleep near the gangplank. Upon attempting to wake him, he mumbled something about singing and promptly fell back asleep.

---

It was the shaking that clued him in. There hadn't been earthquakes since the Outer Lands were lowered into the Qliphoth, and he could have easily been mistaken about the specifics of the fon machines he heard through the walls. He was on a ship. More importantly, the shaking, as well as the noticeable absence of those same sounds, indicated they were coming to a stop.

The sound of the food tray interrupted his thoughts. Luke imagined he was feeling now how Jade must feel all the time, anticipating things so accurately before they happen. He took a bite of the apple and left the rest on the tray for show, and shoved the rest of the food underneath the mattress, emptying his drink down the drain of the sink. Now he just had to play at being unconscious, hoping that the guards wouldn't kick him or anything to make sure. Once they had him off the ship he could make his move.

The hardest part was keeping his eyes closed. _Sounds like…four, maybe five?_ He couldn't tell how many guards had marched into his cell, and couldn't even brace himself as some of them moved closer, as any movement on his part would give him away. Luke let himself hang loosely as they picked him up, slipped him into what felt like a robe, and draped him onto the back of, presumably, another guard.

"Good, now get him through the city and to the base as quickly as possible. We can't afford any screw ups. And try to keep your stories straight." This was Dentin, clearly nervous about what was probably the last leg of their trip.

_I'll have to sneak an eye open…see who is closest that I can grab a weapon from. If it's just five of them, I should be able to handle it. I could call for help, but if they've infiltrated as deeply as Teodoro said, then I might draw the wrong kind of attention._ The sounds of busy streets and crowds of people shopping at markets, the sounds of Chesedonia, told Luke where he was. If he could get to Astor's mansion, he wouldn't have to worry. But which dock had they come in from, and where exactly in the city were they? He'd have to figure it out quickly once he made his move.

Luke didn't have to worry about formulating a plan – someone else had one completely laid out. The sound brought him back years into the past. He instinctively opened his eyes as he was unceremoniously dumped on the ground, the soldiers getting ready for battle. That sound again – it left a corpse to fall right before him. A weapon was right within his reach, but he couldn't move. All he could do was look to the rooftops, scanning for the source, half-expecting to see a ghost.

It was no ghost, nor was it whom he'd been expecting at all. Perhaps a student, as Tear had been. Whoever it was, he fired with unerring accuracy, using only as many shots as there were guards. Despite wearing bulky metal armor, his assailant/savior leapt nimbly from their position and landed directly before him. The weapon was not the same – this soldier carried only one and it was much larger, now slung by a thick leather strap onto his back.

"Get up. Reinforcements will be coming soon enough."

Seeing him up close and hearing his voice, Luke realized that **he **was in fact a **she**. He'd never seen a woman wearing such heavy-looking armor before.

"If you want to sit around, I don't mind. I get paid by the hour anyway. I just think we might find a better place to do so."

Luke tried to get up, but his legs gave way – he hadn't used them very much for far too long a time.

The woman sighed in disgust. "Some hero." She extended her hand, and while Luke didn't necessarily like her attitude, given the situation he gladly accepted the offer. "This way." She led the hapless redhead through the narrow alleys that composed the deeper areas of the city before stopping in front of a plain wooden door. She pulled out a smaller weapon, one that confirmed Luke's suspicions, before carefully heading inside. Once she was sure it was safe, she signaled for him to follow.

"What's your connection to Major Legretta? Were you a student?" Luke decided to cut to the chase as he sat down opposite her at the simple table in the center of the room.

She answered by sliding the pistol across to him for his inspection. He hadn't really seen Legretta's up close, at least not in any way that he could've taken the time to examine it, but they did look similar. "You certainly know how to flatter a woman – no, I trained **alongside** her, a lifetime ago. Back when she still went by Giselle," she said with a hint of reminiscence in her voice. "But I assure you I'm hardly out looking for vengeance."

"Then why **are **you here?"

"Some people – you save their life and all they don't even bother with thanks, just straight to the questions."

Luke was flustered. Though she didn't seem to have genuinely taken offense at the omission, he felt guilty nonetheless. "I-I'm sorry, you're right–"

"–Forget about it, kid. You want to thank me, thank me with Gald. I'm practically taking a loss on this job anyway."

"I don't follow."

"I'm a mercenary. I was hired to watch you and make sure you were safe, but I made the mistake of thinking I could take my eyes off you for a second, and here we both are."

"Someone hired you…to protect me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Does it really surprise you? You've made some friends in high places, after all. It's not like the whole world is out to get you… Then again, here we both are." The woman slowly rose from the table. "I hate risky jobs, especially when the Gald isn't even worth it," she remarked disparagingly, more to herself than Luke.

Rescuer or not, he wouldn't let this one slide. "So why take the job, then? I don't need the protection. Believe it or not, I would've escaped with or without your help."

"Yes, I'm sure you would have done a fine job slicing up their knees while you sat in the sand. To answer your question though, it's because I owe my client a personal favor. Any **more **questions?"

"Yeah, you got a name?"

For a moment, her eyes opened wide, but quickly returned to their aggressive slant. "Karin. Karin Scheinvogel. Now get some sleep, we'll be sneaking out of town under the cover of the night."

"What are you talking about? I need to get on a ship – get back to Keterburg!"

"Be quiet, kid. You want to get us both killed?" She returned to his question. "The Original Order isn't exactly the most organized group of cretins, but they're not stupid. They'll be waiting for us to show up at the docks. Escaping on foot is our best bet."

Karin slid her handgun into its holster and slung her rifle back over her shoulder and moved for the door. "Stay here and stay quiet. I'm going to go buy you a sword and some armor so you can at least be of some use to me out there," she said while looking back at him. Then, as she stepped out the door, Luke heard her mutter, "I'd better be compensated for this…"

* * *

I am a horrible, horrible human being. Why torture the loving couple so? I honestly couldn't tell you. On the bright side, as you can all see, Tear is back to kicking ass and taking names (after all, this is what made her so endearingly different from the usual pansy come-rescue-me healers of the role-playing genre. So…hope everyone likes Karin, as she's actually an OC from an original story I've been tinkering with lately – she fits pretty well (I think), as in my original story too she uses a rifle in a predominantly gun-less universe. With a little tweaking of her background, I'm hoping she might end up at least half as developed as the main chars. 

Well, being the one-month anniversary of this story, I'm wondering what everyone thinks so far. In particular, the direction I'm headed, how I'm treating my…erm, Namco Tales Studio's characters (both in accuracy of portrayal and me being an all-around evil writer to the poor lovebirds), and whether Briggs should be an antagonist or a protagonist-who-likes-to-antagonize (not that I promise to listen). This means: MOAR REVIEWS PLEEZ! (and of course, thanks for the ones I have already)

>Chaotic Blades: You must be some kind of psychic, making that call on being captured! Your timing was just a little off :-P

* * *

And now, to make up for the fact that I'm being such a jerk to the world's best pairing, an OMAKE!: 

"I'm sorry, young lady," the kindly old man in the ticket booth explained, "there just aren't any ships headed to Daath today."

Anise stomped her foot petulantly. "I'm the Fon Master and I don't even have my own ship? Plot holes!"

"Y-you're Fon Master Anise? Of the Order of Lorelei?"

"Well it's sure not the Order of the Phoenix! This is ridiculous; I could buy and sell you! I could buy any ship in this harbor if I wanted to!"

Guy sat down in the snow, deciding it was best not to interrupt and to just wait until she was finished.

"Even if I wasn't the Fon Master, by the end of the game there was enough Gald to go around that we could've each bought a **fleet **of ships! And what ever happened to the Albiore? I only ask because **somebody **has to and clearly it's not going to be the writer!"

"Young miss…"

"And what about that so-called joke at the beginning? 'Surgeon General's Warning,' and all that? Does he actually think anyone finds that **funny**?"

"He might be the only one," Guy nodded in agreement.

"Young miss…what are you talking about?"

"…"

"…"

"…I could buy and sell you…"

"Pardon?"


	10. Divergence Rhapsody: Desecration

"Why are we here?" Luke complained. "The next verse hasn't even started yet."

"I imagine the author put us together up here because we're going to be apart for a while once it does start," Tear theorized.

"Well, that's lame."

"Are you saying you'd rather be with that 'Karin'?" Tear asked, tapping her foot.

"No way! That chick is cold! … Kinda like you when we first met…"

Tear shot him an icy glare. "…What was that?"

"Yeah, like that! Exactly!"

Luke ran for his life, though laughing while he did so, while a barrage of throwing knives trailed just behind him.

* * *

About the above? What can I say, I felt guilty. So, as we reach double-digits, we've got five separate groups, each doing their own thing. Anise has gone to Daath to check up on Florian; Luke is with a mercenary gunner named Karin, trying to escape Chesedonia unnoticed; Tear is on her way to Chesedonia to find Luke, unaware that he's already been half-rescued; Jade, Natalia and Guy are just a few hours behind Tear, using Commander Briggs' military ship for transportation; and Briggs and Serenæ are waiting in Keterburg for orders from Yulia City. This update goes out to everyone at The Luke fone Fabre x Tear Grants Fanclub. Happy anniversary guys and gals! 

Oh, and hey, I don't own Tales of the Abyss or its characters, so if you could just **not **sue me, that'd be greeeaaat. And I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo, m'kay?

* * *

Verse 10: Divergence Rhapsody – Desecration

Anise was livid. She didn't even wait for whatever explanation Tritheim could hope to offer before she started yelling.

"What do you mean he's not here? What's the matter with you people?"

"We felt that–"

"What? You felt that a direct order from me wasn't enough to get you people to do one simple task?"

"If the young lady Fon Master would let me finish, I would assure you that Florian is still safe and well-protected. Until things calm down around here, we felt he would be better off in a safe-house in the city proper, rather than here where any potential assassin would expect him to be, so we secreted him away under the cover of darkness."

"How many guards does he have with him?"

"Well…none. To station soldiers around the premises would defeat the purpose of hiding him away so discretely."

"I'm going."

"Then allow me to send you with a contingent of guards."

"No. If we have enemies here, they already know I'm here and they'll probably be looking for me to lead them to Florian. Just tell me where he is and I'll head over there by myself, in disguise."

"I would advise against this, but you will do what you want regardless, correct?"

Anise nodded, smiling.

"Very well. Florian is being kept in the old church on the north end of town. No one goes there anymore, so I doubt our enemies even remember it exists."

"Hmm, that's good thinking. Anyway, I'm going to go upstairs and get changed – all this adventuring gear is a little conspicuous." Anise left down the right corridor and activated the fonic glyph that carried her up to the Fon Master's private quarters.

Though it had changed cosmetically over time, the miniature apartment still carried the aura of the young man who'd held her heart…and in no small way had taken a piece of it in his passing.

She had gotten used to the presence over time, but her prolonged absence made it feel all the stronger upon her return, and the purpose of her visit bore into her many thoughts and emotions that she lacked the wherewithal to sort.

Consequently crushed under their weight, she collapsed backwards onto her bed. **Her** bed. One of her first orders of business was to have Ion's bed removed and replaced, so horrifying was the thought of sleeping on it. Now here she was using this room to get ready to meet someone who, in his own way, had also taken hold of her heart.

Resisting the urge to spiral into a depression surrounding such thoughts, she got up and sat at her vanity, letting down and then brushing her hair.

_They're two different people. It's not like I would think Luke and Asch were the same, even though they look alike, so why…? _

She knew they had different personalities – especially having watched Florian "grow up." She recalled the feeling back then. It was strange being given what amounted to a blank canvas. Anise reasoned it was much the same as Guy and Natalia must have felt in retrospect after learning about Luke's origins. In a grand display of maturity for her age, back then, anyway, she'd left painting to her subordinates, knowing full well whose portrait she would paint if the task were hers.

Anise didn't bother making her hair perfect, as her next step, after changing into some "civilian" clothes, was donning a hooded cloak. She then borrowed some reading glasses from one of the clergy and put them on to complete the disguise. It wasn't much, but if she left with a crowd it would be enough.

After walking around town enough to make certain she wasn't being followed, Anise proceeded to the old church and, after waiting for the street to clear of onlookers, slipped past the rusted gate and towards the large, arcing doors.

"Florian, it's Anise. Open up."

She hoped he heard her. It would defeat her purpose if she had to yell or bang on the doors. There was no answer. The building had fallen into a bit of disrepair, so perhaps there would be a broken window or two that she might be able to sneak in via. The door creaked open just as she was about to turn around.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hi." Anise walked into the foyer while he shut the door quietly behind her.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I came here to check up on you. I think the Original Order might make a move to kidnap you sometime soon."

"Maestro Tritheim suggested as much. That's why he hid me here."

"I know…but I had to make sure you were okay."

Florian nodded in acknowledgement while staring down at his feet, then looked up quite suddenly. "You weren't followed, were you?"

Anise glared.

"…Right. Well, come inside then. Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks."

"You sure? I was just about to head down to the kitchen to make some dinner anyway."

"Oh. Well, then sure."

The pair headed down to the basement, where there was a dining hall and kitchen.

"You want any help?" Anise asked she followed him into the kitchen.

"No. I've been working on my cooking a lot lately, so if it's all the same I'd like to make something by myself…see if you like it."

"Sure, umm… I guess I'll sit right outside then, so we can still talk." Anise couldn't help but blush, even though she was certain he hadn't meant anything more than precisely what he'd said. She picked the table nearest the kitchen and sat down.

"So what are you making, anyway?"

"It's a surprise."

"So, umm…"

"Anise? I'm sorry, but I really don't want to screw this up, so I need to concentrate."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize. I just don't trust myself enough to have a conversation and pay attention to what I'm doing at the same time."

While Anise was slightly put off by him basically calling her a nuisance, by the same token she was proud that he'd said anything at all. For the longest time, he was incredibly un-confrontational, exhausting all other resources before he would ever resort to facing another human being about a problem. Though it had been a while since she'd last seen him and she couldn't discount the possibility that he'd changed drastically since then, she would much rather think of his speaking up to her as a mark of the closeness of their friendship.

Florian's meal was nothing spectacular, but she praised it nevertheless. After all, he hadn't had the years of practice and honing that she'd had.

"So, what have you been up to while I've been away? Anything exciting?" she asked.

"I've been asked to take the role of consul of the Republic of Feres, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"No I didn't know that!" Anise half-shouted in shock. "Really? Wow, that's… that's big!"

"I'm not sure if I'm going to take the position just yet. Still, I'm surprised your friend Luke didn't say anything."

"What?"

"I was told he was to receive a similar request regarding the chancellorship."

"Really? This is the first I'm hearing of any of it. I guess we've been moving around so much lately they couldn't track him down. I'll be sure to tell him the next time I see him," she said, deciding it was best not to fill him in on Luke's capture lest she give him more to worry about.

"Please do. Though I imagine he'll share my hesitation."

"So…" Anise said between bites, "why **are** you hesitating? I mean, I don't know much about government politics, but aren't you already heavily involved over there?"

"That's not really the point. I mean, I love helping them out, and I would have no problem with representing them at summits and the like, but I'm not… This is something different."

"How so?"

"Even though I know it's not like I would have the job for the rest of my life, I would be a head of state. I would be the symbol of an entire nation of people. More importantly, I, and everyone I'm connected to, would become targets as well."

"But isn't that already the case?"

"Yes, but…" Florian put his fork down. "It's like this: if someone kidnapped my closest friend tomorrow, my decisions in the matter would only affect her and myself. As consul, my decisions would likely affect the entire republic."

"So it's the responsibility," she said, making sure to sound deeply disappointed.

"Don't say it like **that**. You make it sound like I'm the bad guy for turning them down."

Anise huffed. "If you're not going to do it, then don't do it because you don't want to, not because you're afraid. **Someone **has to be the consul, so if you turn them down because you're afraid, then all you're doing is pawning it off on someone else."

Whatever response Florian might have mustered fell short against the echoing knock on the church's entrance.

"Stay here."

Florian nodded while Anise left the dining hall and ascended the stairs. From the stairwell she could hear the sound of the door slowly opening. _Great, he didn't lock it behind him…_

"Anise? Florian?"

She heaved a sigh of relief before walking out into the main hall. "Serenæ, what are you doing here?"

"Commander Briggs sent me in to apprise you of the situation."

"What situation? Where is he?"

"He's setting up soldiers around the perimeter of the building."

"That idiot…he's going to blow our cover."

"It's already blown. One of his sources turned over the name of a double-agent here in Daath. After a brief interrogation, he cracked, and told us the Original Order is going to try to capture both of you here tonight."

"Both of us?"

"You've got me. I guess they figure they might as well since you're here too, not to mention unprotected."

"So Briggs is setting up a perimeter, huh?"

"Yes."

"Follow me," Anise said, walking back towards the stairwell and leading Serenæ downstairs.

After Serenæ exchanged greetings with Florian, Anise said harshly "Florian, you didn't hear what you're about to hear. Got it?"

He nodded.

"How is your investigation coming along?" she asked Serenæ.

"Well enough, I suppose. We haven't had any concrete leads on the organization itself, but little things like this will fit together for a bigger picture…I hope."

Anise rolled her eyes. "And the **other **investigation?"

"Oh! Well, he's incredibly cautious, so it's been hard to learn anything one way or the other. Of course, caution is part of the job, so that's hardly damning in and of itself. Every once in a while he'll send me off to do something that will require both a lot of time and that I bring something back that will prove where I've been, and I get the feeling he's not just sitting around in his room while I'm gone."

"That's not really evidence of anything."

"I know. He **has **had the occasional meeting without telling me. It's with the same person every time, but I have no idea what they talk about."

"You couldn't eavesdrop?"

"Well, suppose it's a legitimate contact and I spook him."

"…Right."

"In spite of everything I've just said, though, I don't think he's the insider. I mean, he's mysterious and he's got a **really **bad attitude, but underneath it all he seems genuinely nice. He's not just "loyal" to the Reformed Order – he honestly believes in what he's doing."

"Then perhaps it's time to put you with another suspect…"

"Ma'am! Umm, I'd like to stay with him if I could. He may not be a suspect, but we work well together and I…think I would be of better use aiding **his** investigation rather than carrying out one of my own."

Anise saw through her act, but agreed nevertheless. _Well, 'if we could choose who we love' and all that… _she thought, more than aware of the relevance the old adage had to her own situation as well.

The sounds of battle practically erupted overhead, interrupting their discussion.

"Stay here," Serenæ practically ordered while unsheathing her seldom-used sword.

"I can fight," Anise spat, upset at having her combat abilities dismissed so offhandedly.

"Anise," she responded, placing a firm hand on the Fon Master's shoulder, though her pleading eyes betrayed her aggressive stance, "you were once a Guardian yourself, so you of all people should know why I can't let you."

Anise acknowledged her loss to Serenæ's logic with silence.

"Besides, someone has to stay behind with Florian," she added before heading up the stairs.

"Will she be okay?" Florian asked, speaking up for the first time since Serenæ had joined them.

"If I didn't trust her with my life, she wouldn't have gotten the job."

The fighting raged on for nearly an hour, and, as Anise would later learn, had only ended not in the Original Order's defeat but instead their withdrawal from the battle.

"It's odd… As fanatics who believe so fervently in their cause, why would they just abruptly run away in the middle of a fight?"

"I'm afraid the answer is quite simple," Briggs announced his arrival in responding to Serenæ's rhetorical question.

Anise one-upped the spymaster by finishing his answer before he could. "This whole thing was a decoy. We pulled half the guard to defend this church, so if I had to guess, this was planned from the beginning so they'd be able to sneak in and out of the Cathedral unnoticed."

Visibly shaken, Briggs tried to shake it off. "Uh, right. That's very astute of you. There were traces of a break-in, so they're running an inventory to see what, if anything, was stolen."

"Idiots," Anise lamented. "There's no Dawn Age fontech, so the only thing here of any value to the Original Order is the Sword of Lorelei."

Briggs shook his head. "That was the first thing I checked. It's still there."

"That doesn't make sense – even if they didn't go there to steal it, why **wouldn't **they take it if they had the opportunity?"

"I suppose we'll have to ask themthat ourselves." He turned his attention to his subordinate. "Serenæ – help the Fon Master prepare for travel. We're headed for Chesedonia at first light." Finally, he turned to the young gentleman standing in the corner of the room. "Florian, go back to the Cathedral. It's clear now that hiding you was an abysmal idea after all."

"Excuse me, but do I get a say in the matter?" Anise complained.

"Oh, my apologies. I simply assumed you'd want to return to assist your companions as soon as possible. Regardless, if you'd rather argue with me for the sole sake of arguing, then I would at least suggest you wait until they are out of life-threatening danger," Briggs responded curtly. "Of course, given their proclivity for sticking their noses where they don't belong, I can't imagine such a time coming in the near future, if ever," he deadpanned.

She knew getting a reaction from her was exactly what he wanted, but she didn't care. "I'm getting fed up with your attitude – it's starting to look more and more like outright insubordination."

"Please," he sighed, "save your baseless threats. Working for you, I might be a relentless pain in your ass, but out there…as a free agent… Well, let's just say I'm the only one with a threat of any **real **value."

"Who ever said anything about letting you go?" Anise replied, a well-honed evil glint in her eyes.

He seemed to ponder a moment whether or not to take her seriously. "Very well," he relented. "I'll try to lay off your friends, at least until you manage to develop a proper sense of humor."

They returned to the Cathedral together to rest briefly before heading out. True to his word, Briggs traveled ahead of the group to Daath Bay in the early morning to procure a ship, and by dawn the three were bound for Chesedonia.

* * *

A tug in the opposite direction to maintain Brigg's moral ambiguity! Oh, for want of a laughing Kefka emoticon. So, what did everyone think of the AnisexFlorian stuff? It kinda snuck up on me, but once I got started I didn't really feel like pulling it. So it stayed…and the verse became considerably longer, lol. I hope I was able to write a convincing Anise, as I don't want to disappoint any of you (unintentionally). If I wasn't, though, please forgive me. I'm a guy. Cross-gender writing is a lot harder in that direction – as a female friend of mine once said of Ar Tonelico: "Yeah right, like any girl would have only nine layers." Of course, for my part, I promptly fell out of my chair laughing in self-pity, realizing how right she was. Anyway, expect more fun, more questions, and even fewer answers in the next verse. 


	11. Divergence Rhapsody: Duplicates

"We're up here again?" Luke complained.

"I guess that means the author is saving our part of the story for last," Tear reasoned.

"I guess so."

"He really seems to **want **his readers to hate him."

"Given what happens in Verse 12, I'd have to agree."

"Luke! You read ahead?"

He shrank from her glare. "I couldn't help it, I was curious."

"Really, you've got to learn some self control…"

"Sorry," was his simple reply as he walked away in shame.

"Wait! What do you mean 'what happens in Verse 12?' **We're **in Verse 12! … I wanna know too…" she whispered shyly under her breath.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…Aquaman sits around uselessly, waiting for something, **anything**,to happen underwater. Sorry. So, having thwarted Dentin's minions and ensuring Florian's safety for the time being, Anise and company head to Chesedonia. While all that was going on, though, Jade, Natalia, and Guy had already arrived in Chesedonia and began their search for Luke. You'll meet the last two OCs now (though Crocell hasn't really been formally introduced, and I haven't even thought up a head-honcho villain beyond his or her motivations… No, it's not going to be Dist – he just wouldn't fit the part. Besides, I would phail at writing him). 

Sadly, I don't own the rights to Tales of the Abyss. Then again, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this – I'd be naked in a tub filled with gold coins. Why gold coins? Some people look at a tub filled with gold coins and ask why; I look at a tub **not** filled with gold coins and ask why not.

* * *

Verse 11: Divergence Rhapsody – Duplicates

"I kinda like the blond one," came a coquettish voice behind them.

"Me too!" Another voice, this one with a tinge of faux childishness.

"I call dibs."

"No fair, you always get to pick first."

"That's because I'm the oldest."

"By like two minutes. Come on!"

Guy sighed. He was sure he wasn't the only one who heard the conversation behind them, and he was sure he was about to walk into trouble. The only question he had was whether he should be more worried about what sinister comment Jade was undoubtedly brewing or Natalia's angry silence. It didn't matter that he didn't know who they were and had done absolutely nothing to instigate the situation – this was not going to end well for him.

"So cute!"

"A fine specimen – an excellent blend of litheness and muscle tone."

The second woman sighed. "So clinical – all you see is the science… A body like that is…art in motion. You can't just assign numbers to such a fantastic work of art."

"Artists give their works a value in their galleries – there's a number right there. You're idealism is wasted on me. Besides, I was here first."

"It's not my fault you gave me bad directions!"

"Fine, if you're so intent on having the blond, I suppose I can be convinced to share."

"Share?" the second woman nearly shouted.

Guy couldn't help but cough.

"In fact, if you're up for a bit of kidnapping, we could take as long as we like," the first laughed.

"You know…" Jade began.

Guy cringed. "Jade, please don't."

"Alright. If you'd really rather not hear what I have to say…I'll just whisper it to Natalia."

_I walked right into that one_, he thought, slapping his forehead to simulate the effect.

After Jade had spoken his peace, Natalia had grown about three shades redder and Guy was unable to tell if whether this was the result of anger or embarrassment. Either way, she looked about ready to turn around and face the two women who'd been following them for quite some time now.

"Did I stutter?"

"Ha ha, make your jokes."

"Who said I was joking?"

There was a pause. "Well, if nothing else we should at least introduce ourselves."

"Yes, it's about time that we did, I think."

The three stopped dead in their tracks – Guy out of fear, Natalia out of anger, and Jade out of his usual morbid curiosity.

"Hi, I'm Nina Vanemuine and this is my sister Ava."

It was a rare occasion indeed when Jade Curtiss was at a loss for words, and no matter how badly he wanted to say something clever and sarcastic, unfortunately for him this was one of those occasions.

The two sisters began fawning over the object of their affections. Natalia was as red as she'd ever been, but on the bright side, Guy was positive he was in the clear.

"So, what's your name, cutie?"

"N-Natalia," she stammered.

"Such a pretty name," Nina commented.

"Stop acting like a child!" Ava snapped. "Natalia, we're here to make you an offer. If you'll leave your friends here behind and join us, we won't kill you."

"What?"

This got everyone's attention.

"Yes, though I'm afraid these two will have to die. Our master will be angry enough we let **one **of you live."

"What are you talking about? Are you with the Original Order?"

"Of course, sweetie," Nina chimed in. "You didn't think we were just some random assassins, did you?"

"We aren't **any **sort of assassins. It's just part of the job – the worst part, but a part nevertheless."

"So what, do you work for Dentin or something?"

Ava spat in disgust. "Cretin? No, we don't work for that scumbag. Like him, we only take orders from the master."

"And who's that?"

"Nuh uh uh," Nina taunted, wagging her finger. "I'm afraid that's **privileged **information."

"We'll find out on our own soon enough," Jade interrupted. "In the meantime, I do hope your intention isn't to fight us here in the middle of a busy street."

"Of course not!" Ava seemed offended. "We're not monsters – we're not going to involve innocent civilians if we can avoid it."

"Yeah, you shouldn't judge all of us by your experience with that creep-o, Dentin."

"Yet you would strike us down even though we've done nothing to you," Jade commented offhandedly.

"Of course, because the master has commanded it!" Nina almost cheered.

"Still, our offer stands to you, Natalia, if you're so inclined."

"I'm nothing of the sort!"

Ava tisked. "A crying shame, really. Que sera, sera," she added with a shrug.

"So should we be watching over our shoulders or are you done for the day?" Guy complained.

"Oh, we stumbled across you quite by accident, I assure you. We'll leave you be for the time being."

"Yeah, we have other things to do here!"

Ava slapped her younger sister upside the head. "Idiot." She turned her attention to the group of three. "The next time we meet though, I can't promise it will be on friendly terms."

"Then we won't expect it. Consider us duly warned," Jade said dryly.

"So be it. Goodbye, Natalia."

"Bye Natalia!"

"Are we supposed to take them seriously?" Guy joked as soon as they disappeared from sight.

"I would," Jade replied quite seriously. "If I had to guess, I'd say those two are in charge of the reason why we had to come here anyway."

"You think?"

"What are you two talking about?"

Jade cut Guy off before he could answer. "Nothing but speculation for the time being. Once we've got Luke back, I'll look into it further. In the meantime, why don't the two of you check in with Astor, see if he's heard anything? I'm going to go…ask around the bar."

Guy rolled his eyes. "Fine, go 'check the bar.' But you owe us."

"Why would I owe you? I'm only going there to further the course of our investigation. If I should happen to have a few drinks so as to not draw attention to myself, then that's just an unfortunate consequence."

"So, what **were **you talking about earlier?" Natalia asked once Jade had branched off to go to the bar. "You know I don't like it when you lie to me."

"I didn't say anything!" he defended. "And Jade didn't lie either…it **is **just an educated guess."

Natalia sighed. He was almost as difficult to pry information from as his Malkuthian mentor. "**What's **an educated guess?"

"Well, the Original Order is spreading its influence in both militaries, and it's possible that they intend to merge their recruited forces together to make a massive army of their own. If that's the intent, then Chesedonia is the place to do it. Or if not, certainly somewhere in the Zao Desert."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"What good would it do? If we took action against our own militaries, it would only add fuel to the fire – give soldiers on the fence the nudge to the Original Order's way of thinking. They're holding all the strings," Guy lamented, "so for the time being it's all we can do to resist the pull."

"Maybe. I don't like doing nothing."

"Well, that's what you have me for – if there's one tactic I excel in, it's waiting a long time for the perfect opportunity to strike."

She didn't really know what to say, though Natalia was glad he'd developed a sense of humor about it.

"Yeah, between the two of us I think we could handle running a country…when the time comes," Guy added, with an inflection that hinted that a great deal of thought had been made on the subject.

"Was there any doubt?" she asked as more of a statement than a question. She didn't give him the chance to answer, though, before asking something else. "The question is whether or not we'll be able to handle running a family."

Guy coughed, caught completely off guard. "Don't you think it's a bit…early to be thinking about that kind of thing?"

"When do **you **want to think about it?" she asked angrily, though she was laughing at his reaction on the inside and at this point was only teasing him.

"I-I don't know, I haven't, uh, thought about it, I guess. At least after this Original Order business is put to bed and the Republic of Feres stabilizes."

Natalia cocked her head. "Are we talking about having kids, or just about **talking about **having kids?"

"…Having kids, I guess. I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it at all," he muttered, looking away.

"Oh?" Now she was the one caught off guard.

"Yeah, I just think, and don't take this the wrong way, that starting a family is a…bad idea. You know, until everything calms down a bit."

"Hmm…fair enough." Natalia suddenly laughed. "I've got to be honest; I really wasn't expecting a serious conversation with you about this."

Guy mocked offense. "Really, that hurts. I'm hurt."

She slapped his arm playfully. "I'll 'hurt' you."

Guy knocked on the large door to Astor's manor, startling Natalia who was so deep in thought she hadn't even realized they'd arrived. The pair was quickly escorted to Astor's private office.

"I was told to expect you."

"Really?"

"By who?"

"Your friend Tear stopped by only a few hours ago, looking for Luke. She said the rest of you wouldn't be too far behind her." He paused for a moment. "Are you all there is?"

"Jade's here too," Guy explained, "umm, looking around town."

"I'll tell you what I told Tear – you can relay it to Colonel Curtiss. Luke stopped by this afternoon," he began, and stopped while the pair recovered from their momentary shock. "He told me that if any of you came looking for him that he was sneaking out of Chesedonia."

"Did he say which way?" Natalia asked in a mix of excitement and concern.

"No, but Tear seemed to think he'd be headed North." Aston shrugged. "I wish I could be more help than that, but it's all I know."

"No, thank you. It's better news than I was expecting," Guy quickly replied.

"Yes, you've been a great help."

After exchanging goodbyes, the two went to retrieve Jade before he had too many drinks.

"Wait!" Jade almost shouted as Guy and Natalia raced through the north gate. After making sure they stopped, he turned to one of the gate guards. "If someone were trying to avoid passing through this gate, what would they do?"

"Well sir, there's a bit of forest that comes pretty close to the walls of the city. We still get the occasional smuggler trying to hop the wall that way."

"Would it be possible to **leave **the city over that wall?"

"Sure, you'd just need a ladder."

Jade turned to his young companions. "There. Now we have a lead."

Once at the entrance to the forest, they quickly found a trail of broken branches, marked trees and such that Tear had most likely left for them to follow. What the trail led them to crushed hopes raised by word of Luke's safety.

"It's not a **good **sign, but at least we're on the right trail," Jade said sarcastically.

"Luke…"

Guy wrapped a supportive arm around his wife. "I'm sure he's fine."

Jade knelt down to inspect a nearby body. "He's definitely fine."

"Did **he **do that?" Natalia asked, not particularly interested in taking a closer look.

"No, but unless we're dealing with ghosts here, even if Tear didn't catch up with him he's not alone." _But what is __**she **__doing here?_

* * *

Hmm, all that talk of "master" in the beginning gave me a fun idea. Wouldn't it be just deliciously evil of me to make Mieu the mastermind of the Original Order? I could picture him sitting in a chair in a dark room, petting a tiny Luke plushie in his lap in that evil-villain-petting-a-cat sort of way, laughing evilly but his high-pitched voice making it sound more FUBAR than evil… but no, not even **I **would do that to you all. Feel free to read on if you will – Verse 12 is just around the bend, and you'll **finally **find out what happened to Luke and Tear (and Karin, but she's an OC so who cares? You will, if I have anything to say about it. Grr…). 


	12. Divergence Rhapsody: Bonds

Tear stared wide-eyed at the pages in front of her. "Wow."

"I know!" Luke exclaimed, sharing her astonishment.

"I'm…" Her face suddenly grew very dark. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

"Not if I kill him first."

"How could he do something like that? Sick, sadistic son of a b–"

"–Tear! Calm down. We can't do anything from up here anyway."

"What are you talking about? Outside the story is our best chance at killing him!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"This is as close to the writer as we're going to get!"

"The **writer**?" Luke rolled his eyes. "I thought you meant…never mind. How do you intend on killing the writer from here, anyway?"

Tear stopped and pondered for a moment. "Hmm… If I sang him to sleep he might whang his head on the edge of the desk and slowly bleed to death."

"Well, that was…colorful," the writer said, stepping in. "Just remember, if you kill me now, you'll be stuck up here forever."

Tear thought on this, and then stormed off, muttering, while Luke followed closely after, trying to console her.

* * *

Finally, a return to the LukexTear goodness I assume has kept you people reading all this while. I stand by my narrative though, as I had also promised GuyxNatalia and I feel I haven't really been delivering in that department lately. Plus, the lightheartedness of the last verse should hopefully have you prepared for the darkness of this one. As for the title…as Phil Ken Sebben would say: "Ha ha, multiple entendre!"

Oh yeah. Something about rights and Tales of the Abyss and me not owning them. You get the drill.

* * *

Verse 12: Divergence Rhapsody – Bonds

Luke stood outside the simple wooden door, listening carefully. _Good, she isn't back yet. _He didn't feel particularly good about not trusting the woman who'd saved his life, but it was a wise precaution regardless of the gunner's motives. He opened the door.

"Where've **you** been?"

"Out walking."

"Right. Listen, kid, try not to go vigilante and you'll make **my **job a hell of a lot easier. Now, sit down and eat – we'll be leaving in a little while and it's best not to travel on an empty stomach."

They both sat down to eat the simple meal she'd prepared. For Luke it was nostalgic, and the reason why did not escape him. After he'd eaten his fill, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Your client, this 'friend' of mine, is with the Order?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You're not in the Order anymore, yet you're still carrying around those weapons. I know them, and they're not the type to just let you keep them as parting gifts. That's the favor you owe, isn't it?"

"How long you been working on **that **theory?"

"A while now," he admitted. "If you trained with Major Legretta, then you grew up in Yulia City. So anyone who knows you well enough to pull strings like that would have lived there too."

"You put all of that together?"

"What I can't figure out is who in Yulia City would know **me **well enough to hire someone to protect me?"

"Well, you're on the right track. It **is **about the guns, but my client is just some guy I worked with from time to time. I don't know his connections or how he managed to get them for me, but unless he sees fit to tell me, it's none of my business. Just like how unless he sees fit to contact you himself, it's none of your business who he is."

"Now we're getting somewhere – he's a 'he,' he's not a friend of yours, he wasn't in the Order and, knowing that, he **probably **didn't grow up in Yulia City."

"**You **should've been born there," she smiled, "you'd have been an asset to the Intelligence Division."

"Maybe, but I guess I'd have to have been born at all, first," he replied in self-deprecating jest.

"That's right; you are a replica, aren't you?" She seemed lost in thought for a moment. "You're not like any other replica I've met, not that I've met that many. You're much more…I don't know…adapted."

"Thanks, I guess." Luke wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not.

"I suppose that comes from being the oldest living replica on Auldrant."

Luke didn't know what to say – it was a strange fact that had never crossed his mind before.

"I left your equipment in the other room. It's not much but I'm not exactly swimming in Gald here, so you'll have to make do. Get ready – we'll leave as soon as you are."

"Fine." Luke was a bit disappointed; right when she was starting to seem friendly, she snapped right back into her strictly-business demeanor. Things didn't get any better during their escape from Chesedonia either.

They went north, sneaking over the city walls rather than taking an exit, all of which, Karin reasoned, were probably being watched. Likewise, they traveled through the woods rather than taking a main road. Karin barked orders as she led him through the twisting maze of trees, something he tried to chalk up to her military training if only to stop himself from snapping at her.

Even the full moon above shed little light through the foliage that spread out above them, and after about an hour of navigating Luke was beginning to wonder if 'wandering aimlessly' might be a better term for their course thus far. Perhaps just to spite his doubt, the pair arrived at a clearing in the woods, at the center of which was what appeared to be a woodsman's cabin.

"This is really out in the middle of nowhere! How did you even know about this place?" Luke asked incredulously.

For a moment, Karin was silent. "As a mercenary, it's important to have a place to lay low. Recently though, this particular location has been serving as a place to meet with less savory clients who would rather not be seen in public."

"Alright, well, let's head inside."

Karin rolled her eyes and sighed as Luke walked up the steps of the porch and in the front door. By the time she had followed, Luke was already unconscious on the floor. _That kid sure is obtuse. _"There. Consider him delivered."

"You did a fine job, Karin. Consider **yourself **no longer indebted."

"There's still the matter of my payment, paltry though it is."

"Now now, there's no need to be bitter."

A soldier wearing a uniform that matched those of the men already in the cabin came running up behind Karin. She stepped aside as he delivered his report.

"Sir Crocell, the second patrol group has not reached checkpoint three. We waited ten minutes to be sure, but there's no sign of them."

Crocell turned to Karin. "Either someone got extremely lucky or you were followed." He shrugged his shoulders. "No matter, we can make use of this as well. You there," he said, addressing the soldier who'd just delivered the report, "take our mercenary friend here to retrieve her payment. She's fulfilled her end of the contract."

It was a disorienting feeling: he knew he hadn't fallen asleep, yet in the back of his head he was aware that a consequential amount of time had passed, as though he'd held a very long blink.

"Excellent recovery time."

He didn't recognize the voice, but upon realizing he wasn't alone, he moved to attack whoever was standing behind him. It was only then he realized his wrists were bound behind his back. Despite feeling something akin to vertigo, he still managed to stand and turn to face his captor.

"You ambushed us? Buncha cowards…"

"I think you're a bit confused, boy. We didn't 'ambush' you; you were 'delivered' to us."

"Karin?"

"Not very bright, is he?" the man joked with one of the several armed soldiers in the room. "Yes, Karin was in my employ the entire time."

"And just who the hell are you?"

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Bertram Crocell, one of the four Executors of Lorelei's Will. I believe you've already met Dentin… You're lucky to have survived your encounters with him, you know. The man really wants you dead in the worst way."

"And you don't?" Luke asked incredulously.

"Not necessarily, no. I think you have many other uses."

"Dentin said the same thing."

"Did he? Well, we do have our orders…I'm just surprised that barbarian actually has the self-restraint enough to acknowledge them."

"So what's the plan? You going to hold me for ransom? Auction my life off to the highest bidder?"

Crocell laughed. "I'll not give you the villain's soliloquy, no, something so trite and clichéd is more Dentin's domain." He paused to gesture around the room they stood in. "Besides, even someone as thickheaded as you should be able to piece together my immediate intentions by what you see before you."

Luke did recognize what he saw, now that he was paying attention to his surroundings. There were many machines in the room, some of which looked to have been taken directly from Choral Castle.

"Now, I suggest you do as you're told. Play along and we'll get through this as quickly and with as little incident as possible."

"Give me one good reason why I should do anything for you!" Luke shouted. Even captive, he wasn't about to do them any favors.

"You ask, and I deliver." Crocell snapped his fingers.

"Luke!"

Tear was shoved into the room much in the same condition Luke had found himself back on the boat, which is to say wearing shackles and little else. Crocell addressed Luke's immediate concern, while several of the soldiers worked desperately to restrain the enraged redhead.

"Relax, boy. My men have done nothing to the girl…yet."

"You bastard! You let her go, right now! So help me, if you hurt her…"

"Oh ho! How hurt the young lady gets is entirely up to you."

A guard threw a rope over the scaffolding in the ceiling, and then tied both ends around the chains that bound Tear's hands together. Another stepped forward, uncurling a whip. If Tear was frightened at all, it didn't show. Still…

"Damn it! What do you want?" Luke shouted.

"Luke!"

"Your second-order hyperresonance – we'd like you to use it. The data could prove useful."

"Luke, don't do it!"

Tear was right – he knew that. If they had control over someone who could use second-order hyperresonance, they could hold entire cities hostage. There would be no stopping them. But this was far worse than had they just attempted to torture **him**.

The guard stepped behind her and readied his whip.

"Ordinarily," Crocell began, circling around her, "we'd give her something to bite down on. But frankly, I find that the threat of her biting her own tongue off is just far too delicious. Of course, the fact that as a melodist she'd never be able to sing again is just icing on the cake." He ran his fingers up Tear's throat, stopping just a moment to cup her chin; an action that caused Luke to shudder and Tear to spit in her captor's face.

Crocell stepped away as the whip came down, hard. Luke cringed, unable to even imagine how much it had to hurt. Tear, however, remained static – not a wince, a flinch, or even so much as a blink. Again. Only his bindings bore witness to his blood, seeping from wrists that struggled futilely for freedom, to protect her, and to kill everyone else in the room for their role in this. Luke desperately tried to reach her with his eyes, to hold and comfort her in spirit if he could not do so physically.

By the fifth or sixth time, as the whip came back up, Luke could see a splatter of blood fly off with the motion.

"So good!" Crocell teased gleefully. "That's the kind that'll leave a **permanent **scar," he continued, emphasizing the word so as to break Luke.

The whip came up again, but Crocell had succeeded. "Enough!" Luke shouted.

Tear glared angrily. Would he make the pain have been for nothing?

"Will you be a good boy, then?"

"Yes!" Luke spat. "Just…no more."

Crocell smiled in triumph. Quickly, he dragged Luke to a window and swung it open. "You see that small shed over there? All I need you to do is destroy it. The sensors will take care of the rest."

"You need to free my hands."

"I'm no fool, replica. You don't need your hands to use your powers."

"If I don't focus," Luke argued patronizingly, "I could kill us all."

Crocell's smile disappeared. "Fine. Free his hands," he ordered the guards, "but put a sword at his back in case he tries anything."

Luke aimed, closed his eyes tightly, and began to focus. He'd never attempted anything like this before, and so prayed to Lorelei that it would work; that focusing on a memory would be just as effective as staring right at his target. Once he was sure he'd gathered the proper amount of energy, and after one last prayer, he released it.

The machines picked up the spike in fonon activity, but the shed was still standing. Tear was shocked as the chains that bound her suddenly dissolved, but quickly pieced together what had happened. There would be time to kill Luke for being such an idiot later; for now, she had to take full advantage of the opportunity he had given her.

"What…? Did you use your powers or not?"

Luke stared stoically out the window, trying his best to refrain from smiling. "Yeah, I think it worked."

"What are you talking about? Are you blind?" Crocell snapped.

If he hadn't been looking out the window, he might've missed it. A warning; a signal to duck. He didn't have time to comprehend the whys, as the woman who had just emerged from the shed had already raised her rifle.

Luke pivoted, leaving the soldier behind him to take the bullet, and came back around to relinquish the dead man of his sword before the body even hit the ground. He put himself between his enemies and Tear before they had even realized she'd gotten free.

"May I?" Tear asked. Luke didn't even have to look back – he could **hear **her sadistic grin.

"Go ahead, sing your heart out."

Crocell pulled a disc from one of the machines. "Hold them off, damn it!" he ordered and took off running.

The guards, for their part of having never faced down a melodist before, were a little frightened, but nonetheless foolishly optimistic about their chances. They charged.

Part of Luke was disgusted with himself, but the rest derived great pleasure in venting his anger on these bastards. Gone was the remorse for taking human life. He'd killed half of them by the time Tear had put the rest to sleep.

He loomed over the body of the nearest one to have fallen asleep, and raised his sword.

"Luke!"

The soldier's eyes opened wide in shock, but his scream was silenced by the blade lodged in his throat. Tear tackled Luke to the ground.

"Luke! Stop it! What's gotten into you?" she shouted as she helped him to his feet.

How could she not know? How could she not know why he wanted to kill them all; why he had all but handed over the most powerful weapon in Auldrant to these madmen? How could she not know, when it was for her?

He wrapped himself around her, pulling her in close, hanging his head over her shoulder. Tear seemed unmoved, but let him continue. His vision blurred. Was he…crying? It was slow at first, but soon it poured freely. Tenderly, he moved his hand up and down her back, over the welts he'd inflicted by not acting sooner. Suddenly, he was aware of the wetness of his shirt, where Tear had buried her head into his chest. He forcibly pulled himself away. "I'm sorry! I'm an idiot… Of course it still hurts–"

Waving a hand, she dismissed his concerns. "It's not that," she choked. "It's my fault this happened. If I hadn't…let my emotions get the better of me, if I'd waited to get the others, I wouldn't have been captured. And you wouldn't have had to give them the data."

Luke would've groaned were it not far too soon to be making light of the situation. It should only figure she'd be more concerned about **that **than herself. Still, he was increasingly aware of the emptiness of the space between them, and pulled her into his embrace once more. "I got captured first…" he whispered comfortingly, "don't blame yourself."

Armored footsteps echoing on the wood floor put them both to alert. Luke readied his sword while Tear stepped behind him and began preparing a spell. To Tear's astonishment, he lowered the blade with a sigh as their would-be assailant stepped into the room, both hands raised in the air in surrender.

"Karin, put your hands down," he said, his exasperation palpable. "You care to explain just exactly what's going on? First you rescued me, then you handed me over, and now you rescue me again?" he summarized more for Tear's benefit than anything else.

"Crocell's goons locked me in that shed for you to unwittingly kill me," she snarled, then her face lit in a highly uncharacteristic smile, "so once I managed to get free, and since the chances of my getting paid were slim to none at that point, I decided to null my end of the contract by taking you back from him." She looked down for a moment, fidgeting with her armored skirt. "And…I suppose I felt a little guilty." She then quickly looked up, the fire returned to her eyes. "But I did try to warn you, kid! I don't know if you're too trusting or just thickheaded, but either way I'm having a harder and harder time believing you could possibly be the famed scion of Lorelei. Now come on, we need to get the two of you some proper equipment."

"If you betrayed him once before…well, you said it yourself: why should we trust you?"

"Well, that's simple enough. It's **because **I'm a mercenary. You haven't seen the last of Bertram Crocell, so I'm going to stick around and help you out – at least until I either kill him or collect what I'm owed."

"I think we can trust her."

"But–" Tear insisted.

"–Despite her motivation, she did save my life. Twice."

"Fine," she relented, and then turned to Karin, "but if I so much as **suspect** that you're–"

"–Yeah, yeah, I'd better sleep with one eye open," she cut Tear off sarcastically. "I've heard it all before." She then drew her pistol and headed back to explore the rest of the house.

"That weapon…"

"Yeah, she said that she and Major Legretta trained together."

Karin leaned in through the doorway. "Are the two of you – wait, are those guys **asleep**?" she asked indignantly, and then stormed into the room without waiting for an answer.

"They might know something. We should interrogate them," Tear rationalized.

Karin ignored her, placing a heavy boot on one man's chest and unloading a bullet into his head, and then proceeding to do the same to the others from where she stood, despite her companions' protests.

"What are you doing?" Luke yelled, ignoring his hypocrisy for the time being.

Karin addressed her response to Tear, however. "What are **you **doing? Have you already forgotten your training? These people are the enemy; hold no pity for them, for I assure you they won't extend you the same courtesy positions reversed. I expected that kind of behavior from the kid, but you?"

Tear couldn't think of anything to say.

"So what? So she's a bad soldier just because she doesn't kill anyone who crosses her?" Luke defended.

"Luke, don't…" Tear said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She's right."

"At least you see it," Karin muttered. "Now we have to get going. Late as it is, this place is compromised and it would be a stupid mistake to rest here."

Though it left a bad taste in his mouth, Luke borrowed armor and equipment from the dead. As Karin had so coldly put it, 'it's not like they're going to be using it anymore.' Tear did the same, and soon they were back in the woods.

"We'll keep going North about another hour and there's a clearing around a small spring we can make camp at."

"Why? Let's just go back to Chesedonia," Tear argued.

"We may have dealt with Crocell for the time being, but Dentin is undoubtedly still searching for Luke back there. After a good night's rest we can head out for a main road and try to catch a caravan to Grand Chokmah, though really any city would do for the time being."

"Our friends won't be far behind me. We should at least wait here till they catch up."

"If, **if**, they manage to track us all the way out here, then I'm sure they can track us to the spring. Let's go."

The journey was mostly silent, both Luke and Tear thoroughly engrossed in searching for something to say to each other. There was a lot to discuss, even barring the Original Order as a topic. Even after making camp, they exchanged "goodnights" with Karin, receded into their own tent and, in silent acknowledgement of their mutual relief of finding each other safe and sound, fell into restless slumber in each others arms.

Too restless for Tear, however, as she quickly found herself wide awake. Quietly, she slipped out from under the dead weight of Luke's arm that was limply draped over her, and snuck out of the tent.

She could see the full moon clearly from there, seated on a slightly decayed log near the water's edge. Its light reflected on the surface of the spring, causing the whole of it to glow a pale blue. She allowed herself to be mesmerized by nature's display in the hopes it would distract her from the thousands of thoughts racing through her mind.

"Deep in thought as always, I see."

"Yes, well, at least one of us should be."

Luke ignored the insult. "So, care to tell me what warrants such a rueful look?"

"Do I look 'rueful'?" _I suppose I am._

"Yeah; I mean, that's how you looked to me, anyway," he replied, sitting next to her on the log.

"And so you thought interrogating me about it would make me feel better?"

"Hey, first of all, 'interrogate?' Second, I could sleep through a storm, so the fact that I woke up tells me you must have needed me to."

"That's awfully presumptuous of you."

Once again, he ignored her. He was fairly certain that she was just misdirecting her anger at whatever was on her mind at him. "This is about what you didn't want to talk about in Yulia City, isn't it?"

It honestly frightened her that he could be so dense one moment, and so clairvoyant the next. "If only you could do that more often."

"Do what?"

And back just as quickly. "Never mind. It is and it isn't," she said, responding to his original question.

He decided to wait her out.

"Why do you think I came after you?"

"Well," Luke responded, though caught off-guard by the question and more so the tone in which it was asked, "I'd like to think it was because you love me, but I doubt you'd have asked if the answer were that simple." Maybe it was a bit harsh, but only as much as the question, he reasoned.

"I suppose I could have worded that better. Still…"

"Then I'm guessing it's what you were complaining about earlier, about getting emotional."

Tear huffed in derision at her faux pas. "I never would have done something like that when I was a soldier. I acted recklessly and put both our lives in danger."

"You're right – you **wouldn't **have done something like that back then. But you aren't the same person you were back then, either."

Tear's heart sank. "I…I know that."

"Listen; for once let **me **be the one to give **you **advice. If there's one thing I know, it's how difficult changing yourself can be. It's okay to be scared of it sometimes – to feel like you're losing yourself." Luke paused, suddenly recalling many moments since he'd first decided to change. "I couldn't even tell you the number of times I wanted to cave in and go back to the familiarity of the way things were, or how often something I did made me think of how **I **'never would have done something like that' back then." He turned her to look into his eyes, which glowed with the same fierce determination they had that day he'd cut his hair. "As long as you want to change something about yourself, as long as changing it will make you happy, that's all that matters."

She avoided his gaze at these words. _You couldn't be further from the truth._

Luke did not fail to notice. "I'm sorry…I'm not very good at this sort of thing."

"It's okay, Luke. You did fine. Thank you." She thought for a moment. "And I forgive you."

"Forgive me? For what?"

"Did you **forget** I was mad at you?" Tear asked in mock aggravation.

"I-I…" Luke stammered.

"Don't worry about it, I told you I forgive you. I think now I can appreciate why you did what you did, even if you still don't know you did it."

Luke rubbed his temples. "You give me worse headaches than Lorelei. But I guess if you forgive me I'm happy," he said smiling.

"Well that's good for you, but did you have to go waking **me **up?" Karin shouted from her tent.

"Sorry!"

She slipped through the flap. "It's fine. I wasn't in much of a sleeping mood anyway."

"Good, because there's something I want to ask you," Tear said.

"Fire away," Karin replied playfully before taking a seat on a nearby rock.

"If you trained with the Major, then–"

"–Why aren't we enemies? I suppose I owe you my story: if Giselle was like a sister to me, then I guess that would sort of make you my niece."

Luke couldn't help but be stunned at the abrupt change in her personality.

"Well, like I said, Giselle was like a sister to me. Even if I did live in her shadow, I was happy just to know her, let alone be as close friends as we were. But, she changed after her brother died… More so once she got involved with **your **brother. She tried to convert me to his cause. I might have even gone along with it if she hadn't told me about his plans to replicate the entire world."

Tear could see the pain in Karin's eyes as she recounted these events.

"Needless to say, I severed my ties with her. But she **had **managed to convince me how horrible the Score I'd sworn to uphold truly was. Wanting nothing to do with the Score, but not driven to Van's extent, I left the Order and have been living as a mercenary ever since." She shook her head to stop from dwelling on memories of the past. "I'm honestly a little insulted she never said anything about me. I can still remember how highly she spoke of **you**."

"Really?"

Luke recognized something of himself in Tear's response: a part of himself that would still react the same way if someone had told him that Master Van had spoken highly of **him**.

Karin's eyes steeled as she stared into the woods. "We have visitors."

* * *

Well, for once I've really got nothing to say. I've had parts of this verse in my head for a while now, and it does feel good to get them out. I'd say this is probably one of the most…interesting…things I've ever written, though whether that's good or bad remains to be seen. One of these days (probably with my next update), I'll throw in some instruction-manual-style character bio's for my OCs, since I can't really upload pics or anything (though my lack of pics would make that difficult even if I could). Umm, yeah. So, happy anniversary LukexTear fanclub! I'm…gunna go lie down now. 


	13. Catching Up

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It has been four weeks since my last update. :-P I've been going through a bit of a personal hell lately, but the only legitimate excuse I have for not working on this more is that I've been busy moving into a new apartment, where I now get to spend the next two weeks sleeping on the couch while my bedroom furniture is, for lack of a better term, "in transit." But enough about my sad life, let's get on to the character's sad – eh-hem – the character's lives, shall we?

Oh, and, as always, everything owned by Namco Tales Studios is owned by Namco Tales Studios, and everything else is not.

* * *

Verse 13: Catching Up

Karin's eyes steeled as she stared into the woods. "We have visitors." Her hand by nature of training reached for her pistol, and for a moment she flashed back to tucking the handgun underneath her bedroll near her head, where it still lay.

"You must be slipping if I was able to get this close without your noticing," Jade remarked to Karin, revealing a certain degree of familiarity with the gunner. "If I were the enemy, you might've been surrounded by now."

"I'm not 'slipping,' I just don't bother taking special note of every insignificant pest that comes near me." She placed a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "If I did, I'd probably turn into the sort of paranoid recluse who spends years locked away in a lab somewhere."

Guy and Natalia emerged from the woods behind Jade, the former of whom sarcastically asked their orange-haired companion for an introduction.

Karin cut Jade off before he could respond. "I doubt the Colonel could tear himself away from his ego long enough to give you an unbiased report, so allow **me **to introduce **myself**. I'm Karin Scheinvogel, and up until a few hours ago I was a mercenary working for the Original Order. Now that they've tried to kill me, however, I'm working for your friends here. Pro bono, of course."

After getting over Karin's bluntness, greetings were exchanged and the newcomers joined the camp. After shaking Karin's hand, Natalia reached out and slapped Luke. "That's for making me worry! Don't ever do something like that again…"

"How'd you manage to get kidnapped, anyway?" Guy asked.

"I'm a little curious about that, myself," Jade added.

Luke shrugged after he finished rubbing his cheek. "I wish I knew… I really don't remember much about that night." He and Tear glanced at one another then quickly looked away. "But I think I'd remember getting into a fight in any event."

"Not to mention that, even in the middle of the night, fighting in the streets of Keterburg would have left plentiful witnesses. Whether they waited until you were alone and caught you unawares or somehow managed to drug you, or some other option, we can at least safely assume that a direct confrontation wasn't involved," Jade concluded.

Luke nodded his assent and then turned to Karin. "What about you? Do you know anything about it?"

"Well, contrary to what I told you back in Chesedonia, the first time I ever even saw you in person was right there when we first met. You know that it was Crocell who hired me, and it was Vistelise who was in charge of your kidnapping, so unfortunately I have no idea who was directly involved or how they went about it."

"Once again you've proven as useful as a solar-powered fon lantern," Jade deadpanned under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Who, me? Nothing at all."

Guy, who had overheard his original comment, rolled his eyes – something that did not escape Karin's notice and furthermore reinforced her belief that she'd been insulted.

"If you have something to say, then by all means say it loud enough for everyone to hear – don't keep that witty sense of humor of yours to yourself."

"Perhaps it is not my volume but your hearing that is at fault. You know, loss of hearing and auditory hallucinations are common symptoms of aging."

Karin stood up. "That's it."

"To violence already? And just when our repartee was getting interesting." He materialized his spear and twirled it playfully. "I'm a bit tired, but it shouldn't take long without your weapons…"

She growled low in response, realizing he was right but nevertheless having no intention of backing down.

"Stop it," Luke interrupted. "If you want someone to fight that badly, go find some monsters. Fighting amongst ourselves won't accomplish anything and will only leave us weaker for the battles ahead."

"Luke the peacekeeper?" Guy joked, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"It would certainly seem he becomes more lucid the more tired he is," Jade added, dispersing his spear back into his arm. "That in mind, perhaps we should all get some rest."

Tear, who had remained silent until then, spoke up at this. "Yes, I'm sure we're all very tired and we have a long trek tomorrow if we intend to keep ahead of our pursuers."

"Well, as one of the senior members of this little group, I suppose it's my responsibility to take first watch," Karin begrudgingly volunteered.

"And as a 'senior member' of this group who **isn't **a proven traitor, I suppose it's my responsibility to make sure you don't try anything while the rest are asleep."

The promise of sleep overwhelming, Luke gave up. "Fine, do whatever you want. Just try not to kill each other, okay?" He and Tear withdrew to their tent while Natalia and Guy set about pitching their own.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly after zipping up the flap.

Tear retreated to their bedroll without looking back. "Fine, why?"

"You tell me. You seemed pretty angry back there."

"Well, I'm not," she replied curtly.

"Tear…" he pressed.

She sighed. "Just a little…agitated is all."

Luke had meanwhile slid under the covers alongside her. "What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

Tear sighed and looked away. At her allowance, he gently ran his fingers through her hair. Again she sighed, this time with the acknowledgment that he wasn't prying but simply looking out for her. "It's going to sound foolish."

"No it's not."

"…You asked for it. I… After everything that's happened, we haven't had a moment's peace, and maybe five minutes there that we were able to talk, just the two of us. I don't know; I guess I wanted some time to ourselves, and with Guy, Natalia and especially Jade here now–"

"–It doesn't look very likely to happen for a while," Luke finished. "But we're here right now, just the two of us. What did you want to say?"

"It's not… If it'd happened it would've been spontaneous. There wasn't something in particular I wanted to talk about…" Tear rolled her eyes at the words that had escaped her mouth. "Now I'm **sure **I sound like an idiot."

Luke carefully slid the hand that had been brushing her hair underneath and around her so as to hug her. As he felt her tension dissipate, he whispered in her ear, "Not at all."

After several minutes enjoying his closeness, Tear began to shy away. "Luke?"

"Hm?" he responded, already only half-conscious.

"About the cabin…"

"I told you," he mumbled, "it's not your fault."

"It's not that."

Curiosity pried his eyelids open.

Tear took this as a sign to continue. "It's about what happened afterwards."

Luke frowned. He had hoped she would let him cope with his actions in silence. She would afford him no such luxury. "What about it?"

"It wasn't like you. It's like you were possessed…"

"It wasn't. I've tried not to let it show, but even up till then I still hated killing people. But I'm sure you knew anyway." He stopped to focus his memories, playing the blur of movements slowly and watching his own actions now as an impartial observer. "But, with them…" he sat upright and looked away, unable to meet her gaze. _I enjoyed it._

She sat up as well, placing a reassuring hand on his back.

"But…I understand **my **reaction." Tear's hand shrunk back as he turned to face her once again. "It's yours I can't figure out."

Tear could only muster a curious look – she was lost in thoughts of the implications of such a drastic change in him, regardless of its temporariness.

"They never even hurt me, only made me watch, and that was **my **reaction…" Despite what weighed on her mind, Tear heard his next words clearly. "How could you want anything but blood after what they did to you?"

This she had an answer to, one which she was all too relieved to acknowledge. "I'm a soldier." She paused, letting the words settle her nerves. "From a logistical standpoint, I understand why they did what they did, and I'd have done the same thing roles reversed. Besides, I've been trained to withstand far worse than that."

"So…it didn't even hurt?" he asked in a mix of bewilderment and awe.

_Of course it did! _"No."

A slight nod was all the indication he gave that he'd even heard her response. After what felt like an eternity to Tear, he finally looked into her eyes once again. "I guess I understand, then…and of course I'm glad if it really didn't hurt…but…"

She arched an eyebrow, unsure where he was headed.

"But you're not a soldier anymore."

Tear fell back onto her pillow and let out an exhausted sigh. "Let's get some sleep."

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. We'll have plenty of time to talk in the morning, and over the next few days, really." She replied, turning away as she did.

Luke lay back and stared at the ceiling. "Tear?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure I did **something**."

"Relax, I'm not angry. What I am is tired." A half-truth if there ever was one. Sure she was angry, but that was hardly the dominant emotion at the time.

Luke spoke softly, already half-asleep once again. "Whatever it is, I promise to fix it, okay?"

"Mmm."

"Just…like you said, there'll be plenty of time in the morning…"

"Mm-hmm."

"Goodnight, Tear…"

"Goodnight."

Karin, meanwhile, had long since retrieved both her guns and had been walking a tight perimeter around their campsite. Jade sat on the log that had already been established as a bench, watching her walk the repetitive course with an expression mixed of curiosity and knowing. After drinking his fill of the silence, he motioned for her to join him. With less resistance than their prior arguments would've led one to expect, she complied.

"You know, I've seen a lot of fighting in my time, but your tongue is sharper than any sword I've faced down," she complimented as she sat next to him.

"I could say the same for you." Jade paused to reflect. "How many years has it been?"

For a time, she didn't answer. Finally, she prompted a question of her own. "Your friends aren't very bright, are they?"

"What makes you say that?"

"All the fighting we were doing and it didn't occur to any of them to ask how we knew each other."

"And I suppose you wouldn't allow for the possibility that they were merely respecting our privacy?"

"They're children."

"In body, perhaps," he acquiesced, "but through their experiences they've aged and become wiser of the world than most men twice **my **age."

"High praise, coming from you."

"Incidentally, there's really no need to keep up this charade of us being embittered enemies – I'm sure you'll find both of them quite accepting. They're far too focused on the future to concern themselves with their own pasts, let alone something that happened lifetimes ago."

"First of all," she faced him with a glare, "there is no charade. Even if you haven't betrayed me yet, just having the capacity to is reason enough for me to consider you an enemy. Second, you and your friends have killed almost everyone else that knows. Even if you're right, why would I want to add to that number?"

"Well you certainly won't have to worry about me. So long as I **don't **consider you an enemy, I have no reason to tell anyone," Jade smiled.

She snorted in derision. "You'll recall I've been taken in by smiles like that before. I think I'll not soon forget what happened as a result."

"Yes; as we've already established, you're not the sort to let go of the past."

"Better to let myself be haunted than to run away like a coward, Jade **Balfour**." She spit the name venomously.

Jade continued his smiling. "Fair enough. Just bear in mind I owned up to everything back when I resumed my research. And, though it brings me no pleasure to admit it, I owe the courage it took to do so to those 'children,' one very much in particular."

Karin gave him a dubious look, and then burst out laughing. "You'll not sway me so easily, Colonel Curtiss…but good effort! You almost had me." She stood up, readjusted the rifle slung over her shoulder, and resumed her patrol.

After a few moments lingering, Jade rose and dusted himself off. "Since you don't seem to enjoy my company, I suppose I'll just retire early."

"Are you saying you trust me?"

"I'm saying that whatever your motives, there's one person in this group whom you would sooner die for than betray," he responded, walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the only empty tent, of course." He didn't turn around, waving goodnight with the back of his hand, then lifted the flap and slipped inside.

"My tent…" Karin whimpered.

"Looks like Jade already gave up on taking first watch," Natalia whispered after peeking through their tent flap. "Do you think we should stay up to keep an eye on her?"

"Jade's not **that **old. If he's going to sleep now, it's got to mean he trusts her."

Natalia looked doubtful.

"Besides, if that **weren't **the case, you think he'd honestly have any problem barging in here and telling us to watch her ourselves?"

This she couldn't argue with. "I suppose you're right. Still, there's something about her that puts me ill at ease."

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow, but if it makes you feel any better, her weapons… The only place she could've been trained to use them is the Order of Lorelei."

"Really?"

"On the other hand…she's either an exceptional thief or she knows someone who is, because she could've been Ion's best friend and they still wouldn't have let her leave with those guns.

They both mulled over this in silence for a moment. "I think I'll keep our money under my pillow," Natalia decided.

"Good idea."

After doing just that, Natalia slid into her side of the bedroll with a sigh. "I can't wait to get back home…we've been going non-stop for a long time now."

Guy lay down next to her. "I hate to tell you, but I doubt we'll be seeing Baticul for a while yet. With the Original Order gathering presumably in the Zao Desert, going south isn't an option, and they'll be expecting us in Chesedonia, and I'm sure they'll be especially watchful of the docks." He sighed in exasperation, feeling the length of the journey ahead before he even began describing it. "That means we'll be headed over the Rotelro Bridge, across the Rugnika Plains, and through Theor Forest before we get to Grand Chokmah, which with Chesedonia barred, is the nearest city with a port."

"I wish we still had the Albiore…or at least a strong and handsome knight to carry me on his back."

Guy rolled his eyes. "Keep looking."

"You're no fun," she pouted.

He shifted closer to her. "I'll tell you what, though: if you get really tired, and I'm not exhausted myself…"

"Ooh! I was only kidding, but I'll be sure to take you up on it if you're offering."

"Only for a little while though. I won't be effective in combat if my muscles are strained."

Natalia frowned. "What exactly are you implying?"

"Implying? ...N-nothing! I wasn't implying anything! I, um, was simply saying that, although I would hate to be forced into such a decision, I would much rather see those beautiful legs of yours aching with exhaustion than see you come to harm."

Natalia smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Nice save."

"The credit goes to you – after all, it was your dazzling radiance that inspired me."

"Alright, enough's enough. You'll have plenty of time to shower me with compliments after we're done."

Guy barely had enough time to ask "Done?" before she answered without a word.

* * *

Feh, don't give me that look. It was simply the end result of a natural progression of events, and I decided to keep it since I felt like I didn't really deliver too much GuyxNatalia material in Verse 11. This may be my last update for a while, as I need to seriously sit down and hammer out where I intend to take the plot from here, and the time-devouring beast known as college will rise from its three-month slumber once again and make writing on a regular basis immeasurably more difficult.

Oh, and while I would have loved to have had more to submit, my aforementioned sad life means this will have to suffice as a celebratory gift for the guys and gals at the Luke fon Fabre x Tear Grants Fanclub over on the Tales Series forum for reaching our 300th page! W00ts all around!


	14. Scheinvogel Marsch

ZOMGHI2U VERSE 14! I was working on this verse before school started in summer '07, and now nearing two years later, I finally got around to finishing it. What's funny is that I _had _finished my little preamble thingie, which was all about how after this one I probably wouldn't write until school ended. Ahh, the best laid plans of mice and men…

I'm hoping everyone liked Verse 13, though I realize it was a rather jarring stop to the action in Verse 12. I just felt it was necessary to deepen Karin's involvement in things, beyond superficial backstory connections. There are enough clues in there to make an educated guess about who she **really **is, but I'm going to remain purposefully vague, so as to keep you all only slightly more knowledgeable than the characters (and significantly less so than Jade – a comfortable and familiar place to be for players of the game :-P )

Verse 14 picks up the pace again, though I'll leave it to you the reader to fill in the few "in the meantime" blanks between where Verse 13 left off and this one picks up. It should be fairly obvious what happened, anyway.

Furthermore, by the power vested in me by the state of psychosis, I now pronounce everything in this story that was not personally created by me the property of Namco Tales Studios.

* * *

Verse 14: Scheinvogel Marsch

Karin stood and fired several well-aimed shots into the encroaching wall of soldiers, then quickly ducked back into the reeds and ran to avoid the return arrow fire. She ran back towards Jade, who was crouched, preparing another arte, and patted him on the shoulder.

"This is insane!" she shouted. "Peel-out maneuvers are useless when the enemy already knows there are only six of us!"

"We're not trying to trick them; we're just trying to buy as much time as possible," he replied calmly, trying to concentrate.

"Good luck," she said as she started running further down the line.

He had to keep the line moving, so as soon as he'd gathered enough fonons, he shouted "Grant mine enemies a final rest! Flame Burst!"

The flames set the reeds around the vanguard ablaze. The fire wouldn't grow nearly large enough to bar their path, but it would break up their formation and force them to reconfigure, which would slow them down at least for a while.

Jade crouched down and moved quickly through the foliage to where Natalia and Guy were positioned.

"You should have a few minutes before they start advancing again. Take out as many as you can, but if they start moving, or if you come under fire before then, I want you to head straight to the hill. Guy-"

"-Guard her with my life. You don't have to tell **me**."

Jade cocked his head slightly. "Why, I was merely going to ask you if you knew why they would send such a large force to take out just the six of us?"

"What?"

Jade sighed. "It's almost as though they want us to focus all our attention on them."

Guy nodded. "They're planning a pincer attack. Which means they'll be running into Luke and Tear if they do."

"Interesting theory. You might try continuing on to warn them once Natalia moves to safety."

Again, Guy nodded. "Right."

Natalia nocked several arrows at once and held more between her fingers even as she pulled the string taut. "Gallant Barrage!" In seconds, both sets of arrows had found their way into the still-reorganizing enemy.

Jade moved along while Natalia readied a single arrow. "Do not think you can escape me! Pour forth, O starlight! Astral Rain!" She loosed the arrow and chaos broke out among the troops as the fonic glyph appeared beneath them, a warning too late to save them from the bombardment of light.

She immediately fell to one knee, panting lightly.

"Are you all right?" Guy half-shouted.

"Fine." A somewhat pained smile. "It's just been a while since I've had to exert myself like this."

After taking a quick look to survey the damage, Guy crouched back down next to Natalia. "We need to move – their archers are pressing forward for a counterattack.

"Okay," she replied as she stood up and dusted herself off.

The pair quickly headed deeper into the reeds, just barely avoiding the barrage of arrows fired back at them. "Karin," Guy called as he slid down to the ground where she lay prone with her rifle, "you're on point again."

"Got it."

"Natalia, will you be all right?"

"Go!" she half-shouted. She continued down the line to her next point, while Guy broke away and went to warn Luke and Tear about the possible pincer attack.

Karin rose to a crouch and took several more shots at the approaching forces, then stood and continued firing as she walked back towards Jade's position. "Fancy meeting you here," she said sarcastically upon her arrival.

"Keep your head down," he warned as he stood up just enough to push down on her shoulder, forcing her to a crouch.

"What, are you worried about me?"

Jade smiled a crooked smile. "Worried about my back if I have to drag your weight all the way down the line to Natalia. Of course, if you _want_ to get hit by an arrow, be my guest – just make sure it kills you." He stood up and fired off another Flame Burst while Karin provided cover fire.

"Where did Guy run off to?"

"He seems to think this group we're running from is just a diversion to distract us while a smaller force cuts in and attacks us from behind."

"I was worried about that myself – they don't seem to be pushing us quite as hard as they could."

Jade nodded. "Well, off you go," he said as he waved her further down the line. "I'll keep them occupied a bit longer."

---

"So much for time alone together," Luke noted dryly as he parried an attack by one of the Original Knights. He supported the sword by putting his hand on the back of the end of the blade and gave a hard shove back into the knight. Before the knight could recover, Luke went for the finishing blow.

"Now's not the time, Luke," Tear replied as three of her throwing knives found themselves expertly embedded in her opponents' necks. "We have to keep moving."

Luke turned to Tear, purposefully lowering his guard to lure another of the knights into attacking. He saw his prey approaching from the corner of his eye and jumped back just enough to dodge the charge but still leaving him close enough to strike at the knight's exposed back as he stumbled past.

Gesturing to the ten or so bodies already laying on the blood-soaked ground, Luke shouted "There's less and less of you, and still the same _two_ of us! Why don't you all give up and go home?"

"I don't think they were planning on running into us here any more than _we_ were _them_," Tear noted. "They were probably aiming to attack the others from behind."

"And you want to keep moving?"

"We've got an objective to reach. The longer we're delayed here, the worse the situation is going to get." Tear aimed her staff at another approaching group of knights. "O melody beckoning toward the abyss," and sang the fonic hymn of Nightmare.

Some of them collapsed to the ground, asleep, but others forced their way onward. Luke leapt forward into the field of fonons while it remained and shouted "Chill! Guardian Frost!" as sharp stalagmites of ice shot forth from the ground and impaled the remaining knights.

He quickly moved back into range to protect Tear while she continued casting spells. "We can't just let these guys past us, though!"

"I'm sure Jade thought of this as a possibility. They'll be fine. We should go now while there's still an opening."

Luke was still uncertain. His hands shook in anger even as they gripped tightly around the grip of his sword, for want of being able to be in two places at once. The irony that there was once a time when he actually could be wasn't lost on him.

The approaching forces closed rank again and continued towards the pair. Tear shot Luke a caustic glare; his indecisiveness having made the decision for them, at least until they could force another opening.

"Thou who wouldst take revenge, carve here thy holy seal. Éclair de Larmes!"

Again, Luke leapt in after the attack. "Begone! Burning Havoc!"

As their enemies were knocked about and momentarily scattered, Luke had no sooner stepped back than someone else jumped in. "Severing Wind!" And in the field of fonons he himself left behind, "Blade, reveal your fury! Dragon Tempest!"

Guy jumped back and landed beside Luke, sword at the ready.

"Guy, what are you doing here?"

"Jade had a feeling this might happen, and sent me to help you guys out… I could go back if you don't need me though," he added with a smile.

"No, this is good," Tear said as she approached. "You can distract them while Luke and I move past."

"And leave Guy here to fight off the lot of them?" Luke asked incredulously.

"You sound like you don't think I can handle it."

Luke ignored Guy. "If he gets hurt, there won't be anyone around to heal him! You stay here. I'll take care of the signal."

"And what if _you_ get hurt?" Tear countered.

"I won't," he said flatly as he already started towards the breach in the enemy's ranks. "Worst case scenario, I can always use my hyperresonance."

Tear frowned.

"Joking! Joking! …Guy?"

Guy waved him off. "I won't let anything happen to her," he answered, knowing full well what Luke was about to say.

"Right." Luke bolted past the knights. A few broke formation to give chase, but several well-placed spells on Tear's part drew their attention back where she wanted it: on her and Guy.

---

"What's the report from the crow's nest?" Briggs asked the captain with a hint of concern in his voice.

"We're still too far out to see anything clearly. Whatever it is, though, we won't be passing anywhere near close enough for it to affect us. We'll be arriving in Chesedonia on time."

"Excuse me." Briggs turned sharply and left the bridge. Serenæ followed quickly after him.

"What should we do?" she asked after the door sealed shut behind them.

"Head up to the crow's nest yourself and see to it. If I'm unable to get a report from them, I might as well get one directly from you."

"Yes, sir."

Serenæ headed to the deck and ascended the ladder to the crow's nest. After relieving the crewman of his spyglass, she gazed through it in the direction of the smoke. From the amount, it didn't appear to be caused by anything larger than a campfire, the smoke was somehow blue – which was what had caught their attention in the first place.

Furthermore, it was a campfire in the middle of the day in a highly visible location, a dangerous idea in dangerous times. Whoever it was must have had good reason to take the risk of drawing unwanted attention; the only question remained was what kind of attention _did_ they want?

As the captain had reported, the ship was still too far out to make out anything clearly. As she was about to return the spyglass and report to the Commander, she spotted a glint coming from nearby the smoke. At first, she thought it might have been someone looking back out at them with a spyglass of their own, but from the number and configuration of 'figures' she could just barely see, it seemed more likely that a battle was going on.

She handed the crewman his spyglass and slid down the ladder quickly, and headed immediately for the bridge. Commander Briggs was still where she'd left him, right outside.

"I cannot be certain, but it would appear that there is some sort of battle taking place near the source of the smoke. What do you suggest we do, Commander?"

"At the moment, nothing. It doesn't seem to involve us, does it?"

"No, sir, but-"

Serenæ was cut off by the same crewman that was manning the crow's nest running past her into the bridge. Both of the Locrian soldiers tilted their heads curiously.

"Commander Briggs, come in here at once!" the captain shouted.

"What's going on?"

The two turned to see Anise, who had been in her cabin for most of the trip, rubbing her eyes wearily as she approached.

"Nothing you need concern yourself with, Fon Master. You may return to your quarters – we can handle this." Briggs turned and walked inside the bridge without waiting for a response. Serenæ shrugged apologetically and followed him in, though she held the door open for Anise.

"Go ahead," the captain urged the crewman to repeat his report.

"Lieutenant Commander, I continued observing the area, and shortly after you left, there was a bright flash of light coming from the shore. I couldn't look directly at it, but after it faded…if there were actually people there, there doesn't seem to be nearly as many now."

"You don't think…" Serenæ mumbled.

"Our hotheaded young duke-to-be? I most certainly do. Captain, change heading for the shore nearest that signal. We'll take one of your landing boats to bring a shore party out to investigate. Once we've left, if you wouldn't mind bringing the ship about, so her broadside faces the shore? We may have need of artillery support, but I suppose we'll have to rely on your best judgment on when and where to apply it."

"Certainly, sir. I'm at your command."

"Miss Culmen. Gather up a number of able-bodied men to bring ashore. Properly armed of course."

"Yes, sir."

Briggs turned to leave, but stopped short as he saw Anise barring his path, glaring angrily. "Forgetting someone?"

"Fon Master Anise, as-"

"No. Not when my friends are in danger, I'm not. Until we get them back on this ship safely, as far as you're concerned, I'm just Anise Tatlin."

---

"You're breaking formation again – keep moving down the line," Jade warned.

"Not until you tell me how we're even going to reach the shore if there are more forces coming in behind us," Karin replied.

"An opportunity will present itself… it always does." Jade smiled one of his trademark smiles, which did nothing to quell Karin's fears.

Realizing this was all she was going to get out of him, Karin growled in frustration. "You know, you can really be impossible sometimes!"

"Only sometimes?" he immediately came back, "I'll have to try harder, then."

Though she didn't find it particularly funny, Karin couldn't help but admire the quickness of his wit. "Sometimes is **more** than enough, thank you. Just try to come up with a plan before we all get killed, okay? That's all I'm asking." She continued down the line before he had the chance to reply, leaving the enemy a few parting shots as she did.

Jade let her draw their archers fire for the moment and charged up another Flame Blast. He didn't relish the idea of the starting so many fires, but the walls of flames he was making out of the reeds were the only thing stopping their main forces from closing in on them.

"Jade's at the front now – you're up next, hon," Karin warned Natalia as she passed her by. Moving further back to her next position, she could just barely see Guy and Tear holding off a small force of soldiers. Not bothering to concern herself with the archers of the main force, she stood up fully and began providing sniper support for the two.

Jade, having moved back after firing off as many spells as he felt he safely could before the next arrow barrage, heard the shooting. Surmising her reason for doing something so foolish, he knew it was time. "Change of plans, Natalia – come on, we're going to rush to the shore as quickly as possible."

Catching Karin along the way, the three quickly joined up with Tear and Guy, and using momentum and the surprise at their sudden arrival to their advantage, broke a hole in the enemy formation and bolted through.

Tear, despite her exhaustion, began running the moment she saw Luke safe and sound, waving in a boat that was headed for the shore. Taking advantage of the fact that his back was turned, she slapped him in the back of the head the moment she reached him.

"Ow! Tear, what was **that** for?" he said somewhat angrily, the joy of seeing her make it there unharmed mitigated by his confusion at the surprise attack.

"You said you weren't going to use hyperresonance!"

"How did you know?" he said and then immediately winced, realizing he would've been better off just apologizing outright.

Luckily for him, everyone's attention was then drawn to the larger ship out in the distance as it fired off a barrage from its cannons into the rapidly advancing enemy forces. Scattered and disoriented by the sudden artillery strike, many of them broke into full retreat while their commanding officers barked orders in vain to continue pushing forward.

"Ahoy there! Are you in need of assistance, Sir Fabre?" Briggs shouted as he rounded the boat as close as necessary. Thankfully, it didn't seem they were going to need to fight the Original Knights off this time.

Luke grimaced at the sound of Brigg's smug voice. Thankful as he was, he wished it had been someone… anyone else to come to his aid. He chose to ignore him for the time being. "All right: Tear, Natalia, Karin – you first. Then Jade and Guy. I'll go last."

Jade gave him an odd look. "Aren't you just the fearless leader, ordering everyone else around like that." He smiled. "Not that I'm complaining – saves me the trouble."

"Enough chit-chat, let's go!" Karin called out, already wading into the water as she made her way to the rescue boat. She was submerged up to her chin, holding her guns up over her head, by the time she reached the boat, but she steadfastly refused to surrender her armor in order to swim, and it wound up taking half the shore party to hoist her up and onto the boat, at which point Tear and Natalia had already made it on board. Karin and Natalia covered the rest of them while they finished their retreat.

"Honestly, the trouble I have to go through for you guys," Anise said as the soldiers around her immediately parted to allow her to approach her friends.

"I'd expected some ship or another to come to our aid," Jade admitted, "but I was honestly surprised to see it was yours. Your sense of timing, for once, was impeccable."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anise asked indignantly.

"Nothing at all – I'm merely expressing my gratitude," Jade replied, already calm enough to return to his usual sarcastic self.

Seeing this, Anise turned her attention to the others. "Are the rest of you all okay?"

"A few cuts and bruises, but we'll make it," Guy answered for the group.

"Well, there's plenty of medicine and rest to be had once we get back to the boat," Anise said for the sake of saying something. Still, it was clear they weren't being so quiet on purpose, but merely out of exhaustion.

Briggs, who had been eyeing Karin since she came aboard, grew tired of quietly theorizing to himself. "Just who the hell are you?" he said threateningly.

Karin removed her helmet with a sigh. "Karin Scheinvogel. **Former** member of the Order. Now a mercenary. You'll excuse me if I don't get up to shake your hand," she replied sarcastically.

Briggs arched an eyebrow. He'd heard of her, though he wasn't sure from where. "The weapons. Hand them over."

Before she could move to point her pistol up under his chin, Luke weakly kicked out at him. "Briggs, shut up. She's on our side."

"Those weapons are property of the Order of Lorelei, and I'll not have them in the hands of some mercenary." Turning his attention back to Karin, he continued, "And I'll want a full explanation as to how exactly you came about-"

This time it was Anise who interrupted. "Drop it, Commander. If Luke says she's okay, she's okay. Besides, if she's on our side and she knows how to use them, it hardly does anybody any good to confiscate them."

"But-"

"That's enough, Commander."

As tired as he was, Luke couldn't help but crack a smile as Briggs reluctantly backed down.

"We're almost there," Serenæ announced, calling their attention to the ship just ahead.

"You guys get your wounds treated and get some rest, but then I want some answers," Anise jokingly demanded.

Jade gave a vague look to Guy, who'd seen the look enough to know what it meant anyway. "Me again?" he asked in exasperation. _Why do I always get stuck explaining everything?_

_

* * *

_The original course of this chapter was a lot different, but I wound up scrapping the idea after I found I couldn't get it to "go" anywhere. But the opening scene had Luke **winning** a back-and-forth with Jade, so I figured I'd throw it down here for anyone who wants to read it. As it began, Jade had the group splitting into three groups (3x[boy+girl], and I'm sure I don't need to explain in exactly what sequence), and after the plan was explained in detail, Luke approaches Jade. And here we go:

As everyone else returned to packing, Luke approached their strategist. "Thanks," he whispered.

"I can't imagine what you're thanking me for," Jade replied with none of Luke's concern for secrecy. "I simply organized our numbers based on where each of us could work to maximum effect."

His cover already blown, Luke shot back: "I just meant it's not at all like you to **volunteer** to take the hardest job. Especially since it means spending **days **with a woman you **supposedly** don't even like."

Jade gave an uncharacteristically genuine smile. "You're getting better at this, Luke."

"Does that mean you admit defeat?"

"Of course not – I'm merely making a temporary, strategic retreat."

"The kid brings up an interesting point," Karin began tauntingly, "I could easily make the trip alone, yet you volunteer to come along? You want to protect me if I get attacked along the way?"

"More likely he wants to protect you from Emperor Peony once you get there," Luke shot in.


End file.
